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SURGERY, AND THE DIS- EASES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN, AS MAY PROVE USEFUL IV FAMILIES WHEN REGULAR PHYSICIANS CANNOT BE PROCURED: Bums a Cohfanioit and Gdidb for iNTEtj,iOB!(T Puincipau OF Manufactories, Plantations, and Boarding-Schools, Heaps of Fahilie9, Masters of Vessels, Mission- aries, OR Travellers, and a useful Sketch FOR Young Men aBOur cohmencino the Studt OF Medicine. BY REYNELL COATES, M. D. Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia — Hono- rary Member of the Philadelphia Medical Society— .Cor- respondent of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York — Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- delphia — Formerly Resident Surgeon of the Pennsylvania Hospital, &c. ASSISTED BY SEVERAL UBDICAL FRIEMDSv In One Handsome Volume. II :»i;' ■^ ^' y '•'. AW BRIDGE WATER TREATISES. In Sevni Volumes, Octavo, I. By t!ie Rev. Wm. Kikby, M. A., F. R. S. Illustrated hy numerous En- gravbiirs on Copp(r. Tiie Adaptation of External Nature to the Mornl aiid; Intellectual Constitutiun of, Man. I By the Rov. Thomas Chat. | VII. 'mers, Professor of DivinilyiAiiimul and Vegetable I'hy- in ti;c University of E.liu- siology, coii.«i(!ercd with llc- biir"! 11. fereiice to Natural Tiico- lon;y. By Piii i:r Mark Rocikt, M. I». 'J'lie Adaptation of Exlernal Nature to tlie Piiyiiical VAm-'Mlustratal with nearly fat dition of Man. I Hundred Wood Cuts. By John Kidd, M. D., F. R : S., Regius Professor of Mo-| VIII. dicine in tlio Univerfeity of (^^.^jogy a,„] Mineralogy, Cun Oxford. III. Astronotiiy and General Piiy- sics, Considered with Rrfer- ence to Natural Theology. By the Rev. Wm. Whewell, 'M. A., F. R. S., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. IV. 'J'he Hand: Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as evinc- ing Design. Ry Sir Ciiai les Bell, K. H., F. R. S. V. Chemistry, Metoorolngy, and the Function of Digestion. By Wm. Prout, M. D., F. R. S. VI. The History, Habits, and In- stincts of Animals. sidered witii Reference to Natural Theology. By the Rev- Wm- Bucki-\nd, I). D., Canon of Christ Church. ond R(\idcr in Geolnny and Mincralojvy in the Univer- sity of Oxlbrd. BEING THE L.VST OF THE BRIDGEWATER TREATI?r.S. OX TIIK PowKR, Wisdom and Goodness OF Goi), AS MANU'ESTKI) IX THE CBEATIOX. With Eighty -nine Copper- plates and Maps. The whole bonncl in liand- iome embossed clolii, or neatly half bound with calf back:; and corners. Any one of the Trcatieo's ^nn be liad separately. C THE BUBBLES or CANADA. /(Vil r. .'■: ■!<■■. ,*' i '\kM ] W^Wi^ mi \\ tt n "I coulc xrc :^:l BUBBLES or CANADA. BY THE AUTHOR OF \^ * :-tl "SAM SLICK," "THE CLO CKWAK ER; &c. &c. ^^^JnivtrTSj BIBLIOTHECA »j "I say, Jack, I'm blow'd if he didn't call it a shap-po/ Why tb" invil couldn't he call it a hat at once— (Aat comes now qf his not speaking E •.us'i." PHILADELPHIA : LEA &.BLANCHARD, SUCCESSORS TO CAREY &, CO. ^ 1839. BISLIiTMECA (.: :'-.Jihi ■t It ii r' \ \ jqo03 000^390^^ «;' London, 2ith Dec. 1838. My dear, Haliburton, I shall offer no apology to you for the mau- ner in which I have executed this work, as you are well aware that I could command neither the time nor the materials that were necessary to do it properly : even the small portion of time I have been able to devote to it, out of a hasty visit to London, has been subject to constant interruptions ; and many important documents which ought to have been referred to, have, I find (from the little interest hitherto taken in Canadian affairs,) not found their way to England. Wherever I could obtain authentic works and official papers, I have used them as freely as I could, that as little as possible might rest on indivi- dual assertion. Such as it is, I beg of you to accept it, as a proof of my desire to comply with your wishes, as far as it has been in my power to sent state of the law in Canada — People unfit for constitu- tional government JC LETTER V. A review of the proceedings of the legislature of Canada from 1792, when it first assembled, to 1819, when a demand was made for a provision for the civil list . . -50 LETTER VI. Sources of revenue in Canada — Reference to committee of Parliament of alleged grievances — Unjust electorial division of Canada — ^Unconstitutional proceedings of Assembly — Fresh grievances— Lord Goderich's review of proceedings 75 -. M I vin COKTEIITS^ Pagv LETTER VII. Ninety.two resolutions of Canadian Assembly — Reference of the same to committee of 1834 — ^Report of committee • IIG^ LETTER VIIL Review by Lord Aberdeen of the steps taken by government to carry out the recommendation of committee of 1838 - 156 LETTER IX. Appointment of commission of inquiry — Their instructions — Lord Glenelg's reply to the demands of tho Assembly • I7(i LETTER X. Abandonment of grievances and demand of constitutional changes-specification of changes required, and separate • consideration of each. — 1st. That tho Legislative Council should be elective. — 9d. That the Executive Council should he responsible to the House of Assembly. — 3d. That tlic Tenures Act and Land Company Act sliould be repealed. — 4th. Tliat the crown revenues should be surrendered uncon- ditionally. — 5th. That the management of the waste lands should be given up to them ...--. IDg LETTER XL Resolutions introduced by Lord John Russell — Right of Par- liament to interfere considered — Conduct of Assembly — Revolt — Conduct of Catholic clergy, and reflections thereon —Mitigating circumstances attending the rebellion — Mis- sion of Lord Durham, dangerous schemes proposed by him, had effect of his proceedings on the other colonies — General review of the topics embraced in this work — Importance of the crisis, and effect of Canadian independence on the colo- nial possessions of Great Britain '2'd(i agv THE ' fry] .\jU • i IIC^ 15(> ITG l»8 . 236 BUBBLES OP CANADA. LETTER I. My Dear Haliburton, As the people of this country know but little ot the dissensions in Canada, they very wisely confine their observations to the dissensions of those who govern it. This is a more intelligible as well as a more amusing subject. Every body talks of Lord Brougham and Lord Durham, but nobody speaks of Canada. Instead, therefore, of inquiring what is to become of that valuable colony, what measures are, or ought to be adopted, to ensure its tranquillity, and to protect British subjects and British property there, people very properly limit their attention to the more interesting question what will the Gover- nor-General do when Parliament meets.? To in- (juire whether the English or the French population of Canada is in the right, requires some investiga- tion to ascertain facts, and some constitutional knowledge to judge of those facts when collected. It is, at best, but a dry subject. But to decide whether Lord Brougham or Lord Durham has the 2 I 'i.tr 10 THE BUBBLES best of the dispute is a matter so well suited for easy conversation, and humorous argument, that it is no wonder it has more attractions than the other. Such, however, is the acerbity of politics in this country, that even this affair is made a party ques- tion, and the worst motives are imputed for every thing that is said or done by either. There are not wanting those who gravely assert, that while Lord Brougham was affecting to brush off the flies from the heels of an old rival, he intentionally switched him so hard as to arouse his temper and induce him to kick. They maintain that there are two sorts of tickling, one that is so delicate as to produce laugh- ter and pleasurable sensations, and another that ir- ritates both the skin and the temper by the coarse- ness of its application. They say that his lordship is much addicted to the latter species, and applies it equally to both friends and foes ; in short, that his play is too rough to be agreeable. While, on the other hand, there are some who are so unkind as to insinuate that Lord Durham was very willing to take offence, and to shelter himself under it. That he felt he had voluntarily undertaken a load which he was unable to draw, and that knowing greater expectations had been formed of him than he could ever realize, had no objection to kick himself out of harness,and extricate himself by overthrowing friend or foe, so long as the public were willing to be- lieve the fault to be that of the teemsler, and not of the steed. Be that as it may, the exhibition has been an en- tertaining one, and they deserve some credit for having afforded amusement and occupation to the OF CANADA. 11 public at this dull season of the year. There they are, the crowd has gathered round them, the idle and the \ulgar stand gaping, and each one looks anxiously for what is to follow. What can be more agreeable to a British mob, a people essentially fond of the prize fight, than the contest of these two champions, men who have always courted their ap- plause, and valued their noisy demonstrations of pleasure higher than the quiet respect of those of more taste and more refinement ? It affbrds, how- ever, no pleasure to the colonist. He regards one as a man of splendid talents and no conduct, and the other as a man without the possession of either, has advanced to his present high station merely by the force of extreme opinions. He has no sym- pathy with either. The one is too much actu- ated by his implacable hatred, the other by his inordinate pride. The former is dangerous from his disposition to do mischief, and the latter unsafe, from his utter inability to effect any good. After all the addresses that have been presented by the Canadians, this language may possibly ap- pear strange and strong ; but addresses afford no proof. They are cheap commodities every where. Place-hunters may flatter, and vulgar men may fawn, and oflice-holders tremble and obey, but the truth must still be told. A governor -is the re- presentative of royalty, and colonists have been taught to venerate the oflice, whatever they may think of the man". At the present crisis it is the test of loyalty. You will search in vain among those addresses for the names of the disaffected ; and if those who signed them have expressed themselves ■m •Vi u ■ IS THE BUBBLES strongly, they felt it was no time to measure words, when hesitation bears so strong a resemblance to a repugnance springing from a different cause. But even among these customary offerings of offi- cial respect, you will find several exhibiting a choice of expression that bespeak a desire to separate the approbation of measures from the usual deference to rank and station, and others marking the distinc- tion in explicit terms. The colonist by no means regrets his resignation, because he has shown from his irritable temper, inconsiderate conduct, and crude and dangerous schemes, that, of all men, he was the most unfit depository for the extraordinary powers that were intrusted to him ; but he does re- gret that public attention should be diverted from so important a subject as our Canadian affairs, to so unimportant a matter as my Lord Durham's private quarrels. He is desirous that tlie questions at issue between the people of Canada and Great Britain should be understood, and he doubts not that the good sense and good feeling of this country will apply the pro- per remedies. In compiling a statement of these grievances, pretensions, or claims (or by whatever other name you may choose to designate them,) I shall hope to contribute towards this desirable'ob- ject. I feel, however, my dear friend, that before I enter upon the subject, I ought to apologize to you for the bulk of this work. Indeed, when you told me at Melrose that you had been in Egypt during nearly the whole period of these Canadian disputes, and therefore wished to have a history of them, I had not the slightest idea that in under- '!i OF CANADA. 13 taking to give you one, I was going to write a book. But, though I will fulfil my promi"?; I will not ex- ceed it. I shall confine myself to a sketch of the origin, progress, and present state of agitation in Lower Canada. I will show you the pretensions that have been put forth, the concessions that have been made, and the open questions that now remain; you will then be able to judge whether these grie- vances have led to disaffection, or disaffection has given rise to grievances, and in either case will be able to perceive what ought to be the remedy. Facts and not theories are wanted; you must know the cause and nature of a disease before you can prescribe for it. If ever you had the misfortune to have had the tooth-ache, you have doubtless found that every one of your iriends had an infallible remedy, each of which eventually proved, upon trial, to be nothing more than a palliative, a nostrum that soothed the anguish for a time, by conciliating the nerve; but that the pain returned, with every change of atmosphere, with increased power, while the sedative application became less and less efficacious the oftener it was repeated. You have also found, as others have ex- perienced before you, that while you were thus tem- porizing with an evil which required more prompt and skilful treatment, you had lost the opportunity of filling the cavity and preserving the tooth, by suffering decay to proceed too far to admit of the operation, and, after years of sufl^ering, had to sub- mit at last to cold iron^ the ultima ratio of dentists. Whether the system of palliatives and concessions, that has been resorted to in Canada, is a wise and 2* ^1 m S: 14 THE BUBBLES proper one, I shall not presume to say; but all men must agree that it at least has the merit of displaying an amiable inclination to avoid giving pain. What- ever doubts may arise as to the conciliatory mea- sures of past years, there can be none whatever entertained that they cannot be persisted in any longer with advantage. I shall content myself, however, with merely presenting you with a state- ment of the case, and you shall decide for yourself whether stopping, or forcible extraction, be now the proper remedy. \' OF CAIfADA. 15 LETTER II. After the late unhappy and wicked rebellion in Canada was suppressed, it was found necessary to punish with death a few of the most conspicuous traitors, for the atrocious murders they had com- mitted. In the colonies, although the justice of this act was fully admitted, the necessity that existed for it was generally deplored. So much blood had been shed in the field, and so much misery entailed upon the country, by that rash and unprovoked re- volt, that the people would gladly have been spared the spectacle of a farther sacrifice of human life, if the outraged laws of the country had not impera- tively called for retribution. They felt, too, that although nothing could justify their having desolated the country with fire and sword, in support of mere speculative points of government, some pity was due to deluded men, who had been seduced from their allegiance by promises of support, and direct encouragement to revolt, by people of influence and standing in the mother country; but although they knew that mischievous counsels had been given, they certainly were not prepared to hear similar sentiments publicly avowed in the parliament of the nation. It was, therefore, not without mingled feelings of surprise and sorrow that they heard one honourable member invoke defeat and disgrace upon Her Majesty's troops, whose service was already n n vf.f 'I !t-. 1 -if. 16 THE BUBHLES sufficiently painful without this aggravation; and u noble lord, in another branch of the legislature, de- nounce, with indignant eloquence, the juries who had tried and the judges that had sentenced these convicted criminals. They ought, however, to have known, and certainly a little reflection would have suggested, that the instinctive horror of those dis- tinguished men at such an event was quite natural, and that they who advocate revolutionary doc- trines must necessarily shudder at the untimely fate of those who have dared to act upon them. It was a warning not to be disregarded, a consummation that might be their own, and a lesson fraught with a most salutary moral. As their perceptions were acute enough to make the application, it is to be hoped their prudence will be sufficient to avoid a similar result. Nor is the language held by my Lord Durham, in his recent valedictory proclama- tion, less surprising. He has thought proper, in that extraordinary document, to give the sanction of his high station to the popular error that the Ca- nadas have been misgoverned, and thereby expressed a deliberate censure upon the conduct of abler and better men than himself who have preceded him. Now, there are various kinds of misgovernment, which may be effected by acts of commission or omission, or of both, for a defective form of govern- ment and misgovernment are widely different. If his lordship meant to use the word in either of those senses, and considered the French Canadians as the subjects of it, then I beg leave most respectfully to state, that he was not warranted by facts in' saying so, and that it is an additional proof, if any or CANADA. 17 were wanting, that he knew as little of the affairs of the colony at his departure from thence, as he admits that he did on his arrival there. If, on the other hand, he used it as a cant term to adorn a rhetorical flourish, we shall accept the explanation, and consider it as such, classing it with promises profusely made on his acceptance of office which he has not performed, and similar ones ostenta- tiously offered on his resignation which he is equally unable to fulfil. My Lord Brougham has expressed more fully and intelligibly the same opinion in the House of Lords, and has since been at great pains to repub- lish it, first, in the pamphlet form, to circulate as a cheap commodity; and, secondly, in a collection of his speeches, to be impressed by his friend the schoolmaster, as a specimen of eloquence, on the minds of village Hampdens. Although this states- man is followed by few, and attached to none, he is too eloquent and too powerful not to command the attention of all, and presents the singular ano- maly of being unable to add weight or influence to any party to which he may lend his support, and yet being the most fearful opponent in the House to those whom it may be his pleasure to attack. With respect to Canada, he was pleased to say,. " Another rule prevails — * Refuse all they ask; turn a deaf ear to every complaint; mock them with hopes never to be realized ; insult them with rights which when they dare to use shall be rudely torn from them ; and for abiding by the law, in seeking redress of their wrongs, punish them by the inflic lion of a dictator and a despotism.'" Truisms are ^^vm ). m \ 18 THE BUBBLES seldom repeated ; they require but to be enounced, to be assented to. Paradoxes are more fortunate ; they startle and perplex, and he who cannot origi- nate can at least copy. I was, therefore, not sur- prised at hearing an humble imitation of this dia- tribe at a meeting of the lower orders of Edinburgh at Carlton Ilill. That the audience might find time to attend, the assembly was held by torch-light, a fitting emblem for incendiary doctrines. Tories and Whigs were alike reprobated by an orator, who, when he had exhausted the topics of domestic misrule, deplored in most pathetic terms the lot " of our oppressed and enslaved brethren in Ca- nada." If this be true of them, it is an appeal to humanity, and when in Britain was that appeal made in vain? It is, however, the character of humanity to be credulous. The mendicant impos- tor, aware of the fact, profits by the knowledge of it, and weaves a tale of misfortune or oppression to excite pity and extort money; the political juggler, in like manner, draws upon his imagination for facts, and having established a grievance, makes a tender of his services as a reformer. As this charge of misgovernment has been often made of late, it is probable it will be repeated, and as it must materially modify the opinion we are to form, both of the revolt, and of the measures to be adopted hereafter in consequence thereof, I shall now proceed to controvert this assertion ; but be- fore I enter upon it, permit me to say, that I shall not treat this as a party question. As a colonist, at once a native and a resident of a distant part of the empire, I am not only unconnected with, but nor the The this dere( asser OF OAWADA. 10 perfectly independent of either of the great parties of this country, of Tories or Whigs or Radicals; nor do I consider this as a subject at all involving the principles for which they severally contend. The question is one wholly between the people of this country and the colonists, and must be consi- dered as such ; and so far from my Lord Durham's assertion being true, that there has been misgovern- ment, I am prepared to show, that every adminis- tration in this country, without exception, from the conquest of Canada to the present time, whether Tory or Whig, or mixed, or by whatever name they may be designated, have been actuated but by one feeling, an earnest desire to cultivate a good understanding with their new subjects of French extraction, and on one principle, a principle of con- cession. Canada has had more privileges and in- dulgences granted to it than any other of our Ame- rican colonies: unpopular officers have been re- moved ; obnoxious governors have been recalled ; constitutional points abandoned to them; all rea- sonable changes made (or, as they would express it, grievances redressed:) and the interests of com- merce and of persons of British origin postponed to suit their convenience, or accommodate their prejudices; in short, every thing has been done, and every thing conceded to conciliate' them, that ingenuity could devise or unbounded liberality grant, and no sacrifice has been considered too great to purchase their affections, short of yielding up the colony to their entire control ; and for all this for- bearance and liberality they have been met with ingratitude, abuse, and rebellion. For the truth of I. ■A !■ IV . ''■»Ji ; f 20 THE RURRf.RS this assertion, I call upon Franco and the United States to bear mo testimony. Hear the Duke de la Rochfoucault Liancourt : ** No Canadian has just grounds of complaint against the British Govern- ment; the inhabitants of Canada acknowledge una- nimously that they are better treated than under the ancient French government ; 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 pro- gress with us in discarding the absurd prejudices of one people against another. " They pay no taxes, live well, at an easy rate, and in plenty ; within the compass of their com- prehensions 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 to establish juries in their country ; they oppose the introduction of the trial by jury; in civil cases these are not yet in use. But they love France; this beloved country engages still their aflections. In their estimation a Frenchman is a being far su- perior to an Englishman." " The farmers are a frugal set of people, but igno- rant and lazy. In order to succeed in enlarging and improving agriculture in this province, the English Government must proceed with great prudence and perseverance; for in addition to the unhappy preju- dices which the inhabitants of Canada entertain in common with the farmers of all other countries, they also foster a strong mistrust against every thing or CAJCADA. 31 which they receive from ilic EngUsh; and this mis- trust is grounded on tho idea that tho English arc their conquerors, and the French ih.'ir brethren. There are some exccjiMons from this bad agricul- tural system, but they arc fow. The best cultiva- tors are always landholders arrived from Englanrl. *• Upon tho 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 children. But tho number of schools is, upon the whole, so very small, and the mode of instruction so defective, that a Canadian who can read is a sort of phenomenon. From the major part of these schools being governed by nuns and other women, the number of the latter who can read is, contrary to the custom of other countries, much greater in Lower Canada than that of men. " The English Government is charged with de- signedly keeping the people of Lower Canada in ig- norance; 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." Hear also Professor Silliman, a distinguished American scholar: " It is questionable whether any conquered coun- try was ever better treated by its conquerors than Canada; the people were left in complete possession of their religion and revenues to support it — of their property, laws, customs, and manners; and even the defence of their country is without expense to them ; and it is a curious fact, that) unless by the 8 t If. ;r|l 22 THE blubles great counterbalancing advantages it produces,) so far Irom being a source of revenue, it is a charge on the treasury of the empire. It vvotild seem as if the trouble and expense of government was taken off their hands, and as if they were left to enjoy their own domestic comforts without a drawback. Such is certainly the appearance of the population; and it is doubtful whether our own favoured communi- ties are politically more happy; — they are not ex- posed in a similar manner to ])Ovcrty and the dan- ger of starvation, which so often invade the English manufacturer, and which, aided by their dema- gogues, goad them on to every thing but open re- bellion. Lower Canada is a fine country, and wil! hereafter become populous and powerful, especially as the British and Anglo-American population t^hall ilow in more extensively, and impart more vigour and activity to the community. The climate, not- withstanding its severity, is a good one, and very healthy and favourable to the freshness and beauty of the human constitution. All the most important comforts of life are easily and abundantly obtained." This, you will observe, is but the evidence of opinion; produce your facts. Agreed. To tlu; facts then let us proceed. >r OF CANADA, ')S 'J3 r ' ' r LETTER 111. Bv the treaty of peace in the year 1703, Canada, xhe conquest of vvliich had been achieved on the ])lains of Abraham, by General Wolfe, was ceded, in full sovereignty and right, to his Britannic Majes- ty by the King of Franco, and the French inhabi- tants who chose to remain in the country became subjects of Great Britain, and were secured in the enjoyment of their property and i)os.scssions, and the jree exercise of their religion. Thus terminated the power of France in that portion of North America; and here it may be useful to pause and consider, with this vast adJilion of territory, how extensive and important are our translantic possessions. Tiiey may be computed in round numbers to coir prise upwards of four millions of geographical square miles, extending across the whole Continent, from the Atlantic in the east, to the shores of the North Pacific Ocean on the west ; on the parallel of the 40^ of north latitude their extreme breadth is about 3,000 gcograi)hIcal miles, and their greatest depth from the most southern point of Upper Canada in Lake Eric, to Smith's Sound in the Polar regions^, rather more than 2,150, thus embracing a large portion of the Arctic Seas, and of the Atlantic and Pacific. The population of this country may be estimated at little short of two millions; while the export trade to it exceeds (hat to Russia, Prussia, Denmark, :'l! ■It H K > fij I 24 THE BUBBLES Sweden, Norway, and Franr.p roUeptivfily. and nearly equals that to the United States, the most commercial country in the world next to Great Britain. These exports have increased above 40 per cent, in three years. In carrying on this trade, about seven thousand British vessels are employed; the tonnage of those in- wards and outwards being each way nearly 1 ,000,000 tons annually, either to Great Britain or her other colonies, all of them, be it remembered, navigated by her own seamen, and employing British capi- tal : and seven-eighths of the whole produce so transported being paid for in labour to her own people, and all the profits, agencies, and brokerages of this enormous trade divided among her own sub- jects. Can the possible loss of such a trade be con- templated, without apprehending consequences se- rious to llic manufacturing interests, and prejudicial to national prosperity t In four years not less than £300,000 has been paid by eiriigrants as passage-money to her ship- owners; and if out of the number of 170,000 who emigrated during that period, only 20,000* had be- come buidensome at home, and had cost their pa- rishes only £4 per head per annum, the expenses to the con:imunity (wiiich have been saved) wouhS have been $320,000. Such arc tiie interests now at stake, and which you arc called upon to surrender. My liorci Brougham, the advocate " for the diflusion of use- ful knowledge," thus sanctions the doctrine that colonies though large are unwieldy, and though ♦ See Letter to E. U:iines, Esq., M. I'. Iffi ' .f. or CANADA. l>5 possessing intrinsic value, cost more for their sup- port and protection, than counterbalances any ad- vantage to be derived from them. " I have always held (he observed on the 2d of February last, when speaking on the Canada question,) the severance of a colony to be a benefit and no loss, provided it can be eflected in peace, and leave only feelings of kindness on either side." At the same time he " hurled defiance (I use his own words) at the head of the premier," to point out where he had ever changed his principles. The noble viscount was silent, the challenge was not accepted, and his con- sistency remained unimpeached. I am more inte- rested in colonial prosperity than either of them, having no desire to be handed over to the tender mercies of republicans, and will take the liberty to refer to that instance that was so triumphantly dcr manded. I allude to a more deliberate opinion, the result of study and reflection, emanating not from the excitement of debate and the conflict of party spirit, but from the retirement of his closet. On a former occasion he thus expressed himself on this subject : — '* Each nation derives greater benefit from Iiaving an increasing market in one of its own provinces, than in a foreign country. " The colonial trade is always increasing and ca- pable of indefinite augmentation; every operation of colonial traflic replaces two capitals, the employ- ment and distribution of which puts in motion and supports the labour of the different members of tho same state. •' T!)c increasing wealth of Russia, Prussia, or 3* IV 5 im m't\ H' ' ' 9 ^ It ! r ill i n I n I UO THE BUBBLES Denmark, can never benefit Great Britain unless by the increasing demand for British produce which it may occasion. It may, and often is, on the con- trary, turned against her wealth and power ; whilst the riches of colonies have a certain tendency to widen the market for British produce, and can never injure the wealth or power of the mother country. " The possession of remote territories is the only thing which can secure to the population of a coun- try those advantages derived from an easy outlet, or prospect of outlet, to those persons who may be ill provided for at home. " It is absurd to represent tho defences and go- vernment of colonics as a burden, it is ridiculous for the United Kingdom to complain, that she is at the expense of governing and defending her colo- nial territories." Among the benefits to be derived from the *'dif- I'usion of useful knowledge," it is certainly not the least that we are enabled to compare the professions of public men with their acts, and the actors with each other. My Lords Brougham and Durham iiave both travelled (he same road — selected similar topics — supported them by the same arguments — and aimed at one conclusion; and yet, strange to say, they stand opposed to each other. Coming from a small province, and a very limited sphere of action, I may be allowed the privilege of a stranger, and be permitted to express my surprise. I had read in the speech to which 1 have referred, of certain commissioners of inquiry who were plaped in an extraordinary situation, " where each one generally dilTered from his colleague in the views I OF CANADA. 27 he look of the argument, and frequently also from himself; but both agreeing in the conclusions at which they arrived, by the course of reasoning one way, and deciding another." It is an awkward po- sition for men to be found in; but little did I antici- pate finding the noble author illustrating, in his own person, the case he has described with such pointed and bitter irony. But this is a digression, and I must return to my subject. Whether a country extending over such an im- mense space, containing such a great and growing population, and affording such an extensive and pro- fitable trade, has been misgoverned, is therefore a (juestion of the first importance. The aflirmative of this proposition which the governor-general has advanced, has inspired the rebels with new hopes; and forms, no doubt, a principal ingredient of that satisfaction which he says his administration has given to the inhabitants of the neighbouring repub- lic. It is a charge, however, in which the honour of the nation is deeply concerned, and should neither be flippantly made nor easily credited. In the month of October following the treaty, His Majesty published his proclamation, under the great seal of Great Britain, for erecting four new c,ivil go- vernments, to wit, those of Quebec, I'^^ast Florida, West Florida, and Granada, in the countries and islands in America, which had been ceded to the Crown by the definitive treaty. In this proclama- tion the King exhorted his subjects as well of his kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, as of his colonies in America, to avail themselves, with all convenient speed, of the great benefits and advan- i! I 'it" 28 THE HUDDLES ill tages that would accrue, from the great and valua- ble acquisitions ceded to iiis Majesty in America, to their commerce, manufactures, and navigation. As an encouragement to them to do so, he informed them tiiat in the commissions he had given to the civil governors of the said four new provinces, he had given express power and directions that, so soon as the state and circumstances of the said colonies would admit thereof, they should, with the advice and consent of the members of his Majesty's councils in tiic said provinces, summon and call ge- neral assemblies of the people within the said go- vernments, in such manner as was used in those colonics and provinces in America which were under his Majesty's immediate government; and that in the mean time, and until such assemblies could be called, all persons inhabiting, in, or resort- ing to his Majesty's said colonies, might confide in his Majesty's royal protection for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of his realm of England; that for that purpose his Majesty had given power, under the great seal, to the governors of his Majesty's said new colonies, to erect and constitute, with the advice of his Majesty's said councils respectivdy, courts of judicature and public justice, within the said colonies, for the hearing and determining all causes, as well criminal as civil, according to law and equi- ty, and as near as may be, agreeably to the laws of England; with liberty to all persons who might think themselves aggrieved by the sentence of such courts, in all civil cases, to appeal, under the usual limita- tions and restrictions, to his Majesty in his Privy CounciL \ KJt iji\aAun, Un the 21st day of November 1763,* about six weeks after the publication of the aforesaid procla- mation, his Majesty issued his commission of cap- tain-general and governor-in-chief of the province of Quebec, to Major-general Murray, which was received by him, and published in the province in the month of August, 17G4. This commission, and the insurrection that accompanied it every where, pre-supposed that the laws of England were in force in the province, being full of allusions and references to those laws on a variety of diflcrent subjects, and did not contain the least intimation of a saving of any part of the laws and customs that prevailed there, in the time of the French government. It appears, therefore, upon the whole, from the proclamation and commission, to have been his Majesty's intention, with respect to the said pro- vince of Quebec, to assimilate the laws and govern- ment of it to those of the other American colonies and provinces which were under his Majesty's im- mediate government, and not to continue the muni- cipal laws and customs by which the conquered peo- ple had heretofore been governed, any farther than as those laws might be necessary to the preserva- tion of their property. And his Majesty's minis- ters, at the time of passing those instruments, were evidently of opinion that, by the refusal of General Amherst to grant to the Canadians the continuance of their ancient laws and usages; and by the refer- ence made in the fourth article of the definitive treaty of peace to the laws of Great Britain, as the ^■1' II i-r|i • See Smith's History of Canada. uo A a i CI t> 1. 13 r> L< ri n l^i ^i■ 'h f ^i.i; mm in 1 If (/ 46 THE nUBBLES all communication with the mother country, bu( such as might be granted by the Americans or their Gallic neighbours. If the persons who framed that act had compared the state of the revolted colonies with that of Canada, and reflected that they were settled nearly a century later than the other, they certainly never would have attempted to do such in- justice as to subject the trade of another colony to the exactions of an illiterate and prejudiced people. If, however, the necessities of the times demanded a sacrifice on this important point, surely they should have paused before they gave them a con- stitutional government, and inquired whether they were sufficiently intelligent to receive the institu- tions of a free and enlightened people. The expe- riment of constitutional government was never tried by a people less qualified for the task than the Ca- nadians. Until the conquest they may be said to have known no other form of government than a despotic one; few of them could read or write, and the ha- bits of implicit obedience in which they had been trained to their superiors rendered them unable to comprehend the nature of their own rights, or those of the other branches of the legislature. Tb j powers exercised by the several French governors and in- tendants knew no bounds ; and unrestrained by law, their decisions were dictated by the caprice of the moment. The inhabitants were compelled to serve as soldiers without pay, in the frequent wars with'the English, and were treated wi»h the greatest severity by their superiors. The exactions of the military, instead of being restrained, were encouraged, and i ;;■ OF CANADA. «r on all occasions the protection of the governor or mtendant was necessary to ensure success, while merit in every instance was overlooked, llemon- stranccs against oppression had frequently been trans- mitted to the government in France, but were always either suppressed or disregarded. Their cliaracter at this period is thus drawn by the Abbd Raynal, whose account, as his partiality must have been all in their favour, I prefer as tiie most unobjectiona- able. He observes : " That those whom rural labour fixed in the coun- try, allowed only a few moments to the care of their flocks and to other indispensable occupations during winter. The rest of the time was passed in idleness at public-houses, or in running along the snow and ice in sledges, in imitation of the most distinguished citizens. When the return of spring called them out to the necessary labours of the field, they ploughed the ground superficially, without ever manuring it, sowed it carelessly, and then returned to their for- mer indolent manner of life till harvest time. " This amazing negligence might be owing to se- veral causes. They contracted such a habit of idle- ness during the continuance of the severe weather, that labour appeared insupportable to them even in the finest weather. The numerous festivals pre- scribed by their religion, which owed its increase to their establishment, prevented the first exertion, as well as interrupted the progress of industry. Men are ready enough to comply with that species of devotion that flatters their indolence. Lastly, a passion for war, which had been purposely en- couraged among these bold and courageous men, made ihem averse from the labours of husbandry. i '^ i! m '^ > i0>; / / . "li If M'l KB I Id. 48 THE BUBBLES Their minds were so entirely captivated with mih- lary glory that they thought only of war, though thoy engaged in it without pay. '• The inhabitants of the towns, especially of the capital, spent the winter as well as the summer in a constant scene of dissipation. Thoy wore alike insensible of the beauties of nature or of the plea- sures of the imagination. They had no taste for arts or science, for reading or instruction. Their only passion was amusement. " There appeared in both sexes a greater degree of devotion than virtue, more religion than probity ; u higher sense of honour than real honesty. Su- perstition took place of morality, which will always be the case whenever men are taught to believe that ceremonies will compensate for good works, and that crimes are expiated by prayers." A greater folly can hardly be conceived than con- ferring a constitutional government upon a people so situated. Wherever the experiment has been tried, whether in France, in the republic of South America, in Spain, in Portugal, Greece, Newfound- land, or" Lower Canada, it has invariably failed. The constitution of England, as it now exists, is the growth of ages, and would have been as unsuitable to our ancestors five hundred years ago as it is to the Lower Canadians of the present day. Regard must be had to the character and condition of the people to whom such a form of government is of- fered. What may suit the inhabitants of England may be, and is, very unsuitable to those of any other country. It is not sufficient that the machinery be good, but if we desire to avoid accidents and en- sure success, we must place skilful people in the or CANADA. #i unanagcmcnt of it, wlio arc thoroughly acquainted with its power, and have a |»rfcct itnowledge of its principle of action. Tiic limited monarchy of England, was found unsuitcd to America, although the people were of Britisli extraction, accustomed to free institutions, and perfectly instructed in its practical operation. The; were so unfortunate as not to possess any materials out of which to con- struct a House of Lords, and therefore so modified their constitution as to meet the altered circum- stances of the country. 'Urn humble imitation is a cheap article, and good of its kind, though badly put together; but a better and more costly one would not have corresponded with the limited means and humble station of a poor people. Their choice is a proof of i> I ^m 52 THE BUBBLES the faithful appearances of conquest by your Ma- jesty's victorious arms did not long continue to ex- cite our lamentations and tears. They grew every day less and less, as we gradually became more ac- quainted with the happiness of living under the wise regulations of the British empire. And even in the very moment of the conquest we were far from feel- ing the melancholy effects of restraint and captivi- ty; for the wise and virtuous general who conquered sovereign who intrusted him with the command of us, being a worthy representative of the glorious his armies, left us in possession of our laws and cus- toms; the free exercise of our religion was preserved to us, and afterwards was confirmed by the treaty of peace; and our own former countrymen were appointed judges of our disputes concerning civil matters. This excess of kindness towards us we shall never forget. These generous proofs of the clemency of our benign conqueror will be carefully preserved in the annals of our history; and we shall transmit them from generation to generation to our remotest posterity. These, Sir, arc the pleasing ties by which, in the beginning of our subjection to your Majesty's government, our hearts were so strongly bound to your Majesty; ties which can never be dissolved, but which time will only strength- en and draw closer." Impressed with a sense of the benefits conferred upon them by this great change, tramelled by par- liamentary forms with which they were wholly un- acquainted, and not yet aware of the unlimited means of annoyance, if not of control, with which they were invested, we find them for some time proceed- ing with decorum and moderation. But there were i: 4 OF CANADA. 68 "if{ not wanting those in the colony who were filled with alarm at the sight of the first Canadian as- sembly, which, even with the largest minority ever known, contained a majority of more than twice as many Frenchmen as Englishmen, and possessed the power to increase that majority at its plea- sure. Even those whose faith in the operation of British institutions, had led them to hold a different opinion as to the result, were constrained to admit their error, when they found the house proceeding to choose a speaker, who admitted his inability to express himself in English (a precedent of choosing that officer from the majority, which has ever since been followed,) and also resorting to the expensive mode of recording their proceedings in their own ir; guage. They perceived with grief that the na- tural tendency of those things, instead of stimu- lating the new subjects to the study of constitutional law in its original sources, was to force English- men to study French, and in no small degree to be- come Frenchmen, and coalesce with the nation Ca- nadienne, to give a complete ascendency to those of foreign origin, their laws, language, and charac- teristics, in the popular branch of the legislature, and to encourage in the leaders, at a future day, that exclusive ambition that now distinguishes them. They could not fail, also, to draw an unfavourable contrast between this extraordinary concession, and the more provident conduct of the American Congress, which, while admitting the territory of Louisiana, inhabited by Frenchmen, as one of the states of the confederation, enacted that all minutes of proceedings in the court and legislature of their sister state should be exclusively recorded in the 1|;[, m m !i| M ; ni >■ fi*^.:' r U- If ^^ lull ill f 54 THE BUBBLES language of the constituency of the United States. This judicious enactment has naturally made the study of the English tongue a primary object with the Louisianians, and though in numbers, at the time of admission, they were about half the amount of the Canadians in 1791, they now generally speak or understand English, and have changed their old laws for a new code- while ihe legislature and peo- ple of Canada remain as much French as the inha- bitants of Normandy. It was felt that, as far as Englishmen and their de- scendants were concerned, this constitution was a mere delusion. At a very early period we find them putting in practice that manajuvre, which became so common aft rwards, of absenting themselves from the house, when measures were to be considered to which they were averse, and thereby compelling the speaker to adjourn the debate for want of a quo- rum. This first House of Assembly, after four ses- sions, terminated on the 4th of May, 1796. The conduct of the members, though respectful both to the governor and the other branch of the legislature, gave evident proof that they would afford no en- couragement to English commerce or English settlers. The principle adopted and acted upon most pertinaciously was to avoid direct assessment, and throw all public burdens, as well as local charges, upon the revenue, to be derived from du- ties levied off of trade. It was in some measure owing to chance, but mainly to the influence of the governor, that a road act, so important to the coun- try, which imposed a moderate contribution of mo- ney or labour on the people, for the improvement of their property, was carried through the Assembly. or CAVADA. 55 But an appeal to the passions and prejudices of the people by their embryo demagogues was so success- ful on this occasion, in representing this necessary act as the commencement of foreign taxation and English oppression, that they attempted to starve out the inhabitants of Quebec and Montreal, by vvith- hol 'ing all the usual supplies of food. A bankrupt law was refused to the request of the merchants, and they also declined to sanction " An Act to Amend the Laws, Customs, and Usages in force in the Pro- vince, relative to the Tenure of Lands, and the rights derived therefrom," refusing to make the smallest sacrifice to what they called the cupidity of English landholders, and the prejudices of American settlers. So peremptory, indeed, was the refusal, that the fac- tion was considered decisive as to any innovation upon the French laws, which, with the feudal te- nures of lands, were cherished as the means of de- terring emigrants from seeking an asylum in the pro- vince; thus rendered French in fact, though British in name. During the existence of this house, also, is to be found the first pretension to encroach on the right of the Crown, in an inquiry into the forfeited lands of the Jesuits, and a claim for their restoration to French control. It is, however, worthy of re- mark, as forming a complete contrast with recent conduct, that of eleven acts sanctioned ai the end of the session, all were permanent but one. Thus, my dear friend, do }'0U see that the causes of the present posture of affairs are to be traced back to a very early period, not as my Lord Durham has asserted, to misgovernment of the Canadians, but to inconsiderate concessions, which though designed to 56 TBI BUBBLES conciliate them, have not only signally failed of their object, but been productive of mischief to them- selves, and incalculable injury to the colony. That this is the view that impartial men take of the sub- ject, appears from the following extract from the work of a distinguished foreigner, the author of the Resources of America:* '♦ The unwise act of Lord Grenville, passed through Parliament in the year 1794, permitting the people of Lower Canada to conduct their pleadings and pro- mulgate 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 con- querors, as soon as possible, to incorporate their van- quished subjects with their own citizens, by giving them their own language and laws, and not suffer- ing 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 Eu- rope. While Lower Canada continues to be French in language, religion, laws, habits, and manners, it is obvious that her people will not be 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 statesman-like government there, and the di- rection thitherward of that tide of emigration from * Bristow. i'i. OP CANADA. 57 her own loins, which now swells the strength and resources of the United States. Her North Ameri- can colonies gone, her West India islands will soon follow." The second House of Assembly was opened on the 25th of January, 1797, and ended in 1801. The privilege of participating in the legislative power of the country for four years, had awakened the mem- bers to a sense of their own importance, and the C a nadian French to a knowledgeof their supremacy; and they accordingly returned a more democratic house than the preceding, and representatives pledged to an exclusive devotion to the interests of their own \iariy. The prejudices awakened by the Road Act, and the fraternising doctrines of the French revolu- tion, contributed also to produce this result. It is true the minority were only reduced to fourteen; but the attorney-general was defeated as a candidate for the county of Quebec, and several influential mem- bers of the lato house shared a similar fate; so that although the numerical proportions were nearly si- milar, the British interest was evidently already on the decline. A manifest change had taken place in the feelings of the different branches of the legislature. The governor, acting on the defensive, no longer pro- posed measures of internal improvement, which he knew would provoke angry discussions, or be met rAih a refusal; but relied more upon the Legislative Council; which alone represented or protected Bri- tish interests, while the house, finding that tempo , rary acts had a direct tendency to lessen the influ - ence and independence of the executive, disconti- 6 • 1 ' r ■ i r «1 ■' It »i^ I; - \ • 'i ',1 ;, .).S THE CUBDLKS nueci the practice of passing; permanent laws. To remedy the evil of having so many prejudiced and illiterate members in the assembly, it was proposed by the minority to establish a qualification, which, although it could not possibly increase their own numbers, it was hoped miglit at least have the ad- vantage of affording them more liberal and enlight- ened colleagues; but this measure, like all others in- troduced by them, was considered of foreign origin, and excluded accordingly. Tlie majority, however, though pertinacious, still preserved appearances, and ;is the minority fell thcmsclvos unequal to procure the passage of any bill, cither of internal improve- ment or for the facilitating the foreign trade, they i'orbore to provoke the discussion, and preferred t'sing their influence to the )nerc preservation of what few privileges were lefi to them. The third provincial parliament began on the 1st of January, ISOl, and terminated, after five sessions, on the 2d ot' May, 1804. The 1eni])cr of this house, and the proportion of its parties, ^vorc similar to that of the lasr. Among the topics insisted ii] lOii in the governor's: 'Speech, was a recommendrition for ,') grant of money for free schools for the inslrnction ol' tlie rising gene- ration in the first rudiments of useful learning, and '' :i ^',/fii < 00 THE DUUBLKS omulation of the French, and stimulating them to participate in its advantages, awakened their jea- lousy, and they stigmatized it as the parent of crime, the source of undue distinctions, and the means of filling the country with persons of foreign origin. They not only declined in any way to aid its exten- sion, but imposed taxes upon it for all those objects that elsewhere in America arc provided for by local assessment. Such conduct could not fail to retard the improvement of the country, by preventing the investment of capital, and discouraging enterprise; and that it had this cfrcct is evident from the slow growth of Lower Canada, when compared with that of tiic adjoining colony, where a diflcrcnt system ])revailcd. The fourth house of assembly met on the 11th Januarv, 1805, and terminated, after four ses- sions, on the Hth April, 1808. The pressure of the feudal tenure becoming daily more and more severely felt by the inhabitants of the cities, two unsuccessful attempts were now made to obtain some mitigation oT it. The first was a bill to abolish the retrait lignagcr, or right of re- demption by the relations of seignoral lands. Any relation, it was stated, of the seller, if of the same line, from whence the property descended, may, within a year and a day, by this law, take it from the purchaser of the proi)eriy, on condition of re- turning the price. A person, therefore, buying a lot of land for one iiundred pounds, and expending upon it one thousand in buildings, may be depriv-ed of the whole, by a relation of the seller* refunding * See " Political Annals ;" also Canadian Magazine. OF CANADA. 8t \ho origiiiul purcliasc-inoncy, buildings nol hciiig considered ncocssary cxjiciiscs. Tiie second was •* a bill to enable the seiuncurs to conipound for ihcir feudal rights and lIuch with their vassals and ceusilaires/' This was particularly intended as a relief against the di^coura'^'ing cllects of lods and vents, by which the twelfth |»art of the labour and expense of erecting buildings (however expensive) on ground, subject to the imposition, is for the benefit of the seigneur. These bills, how- ever, like all that had preceded ihcin, for similar puri)0sc»', did not receive a second reading, nor was any remedy applied until the Imperial Parliament interfered nearly twenty years aftcrwanls. To show, however, the nature of the change which these leaders were dis)>osed to patronise, they voted £'750 for translatini}- llatsell's Parliamenatrv I'ro- cecdings into French, and to rebut the charge of their aversion to internal improvement, and, to show tiiey were not inattentive to the agricultural pros- perity of the province, they passed a bill enjoining the application of tar to apple trees for the destruc- tion of caterpillars. From a body thus constituted little good could be expected. The irierchants and other British subjects resident in Canada, finding all attempts in the legislature useless, appealed, through the medium of the press, to the sympathies of the English public. They contended that if the support of the civil government were not to rest on direct taxes, it should at least be secured by permanent acts of indirect taxation — that local establishments, such as court-houses, jails, and houses of correction, should be defrayed by assessments on the districts 6* » i ''i. I I'i'if ea THE nunuLRs for whoso benefit ihcy were required, and that re- course should be had to indirect taxes of temporary duration, only for the general improvement of the country in its internal communications with the adjoining states and colonics^ or its agriculture and commerce. Tills was denounced by the demagogues of the day as an attack upon the liberties of the subject; and certain toasts at a public dinner, approving of those commercial and financial views of the mino- rity, were voted to be an insult to the majesty of the house, and warrants were issued against the printers, who were taken into custody, and com- pelled to apologize for their conduct.* It is worthy \i * Tliiit "our opjircsscil and enslaved hrtthrcn in Canada" knew Jiow to viiiiliciiti; tliciii.^clves, und cntiTtuincil just notions on tlic subject of llic liberty of tbo prcsn, will appear frouj a j)cru«I of the toiiKts that culled down the indignation of the house, und oc- casioned the issuing of warrants to apprehend tlic president of the social meetings that sanctioned, and the printers that dared to disseininiitc t-ueli wieluid doctrines. 1. Tin; honounible nicmljcrs of the Icgishitive council, who were friendly to constitutional tjxation as pro|K)sed by our worthy mcni- bcrs in the House of Assembly. 3. Our representatives in provincial parliament, who propolcd i\ constitutionul and proper mode of taxation, for building jails, and who opposed a tax on commerce for that puriiosc, as contrary to the sound priiclicc of the parent slate. 3. May our representatives be actuated by a patriotic spirit for the good of the province, os dependant on the Rritish empire, and divested of local prejudices. 4. Prosperity to the agriculture and commerce of Canada, and may they aid each other as their true interests dictate, by sharing n doe proportion of advantages and burdens. 5. Tlic city and county of Montreal, and the grand juries of the district, who recommended local assessment for local purposes. C. May the city of Montreal be enabled to support a newspaper, or CANADA. 63 o of remark, that at this time the first ottompt was made to procure a drawback of duties on articles that were exported nftcr having first paid a duty; but, as usual, it failed in a body whose whole spirit was anti-commercial. These instances are ad- duced, not for their intrinsic importance, but as illustrative of the question proposed by mo ^or your consideration in my first letter, whether disalfec- tion has not given rise to grievances, rather than grievances to disonbction. Having nov tasted the sweets of power in the punishment of il i) printera, the Jiousc commenced a system of high-iionded measures with any person wiio obslruc'cd ihe'r views; and followed it up by removing from iho house all persons attached to the executive, and impeaching (Mhers holding high ollicial stations in the hope that, by representing the adherents of go- vernment as enemies to the country, the aflections of the people would be gradually alienated from their rulers, and ultiinatcly prc|)are them to join in those measures of forcible resistance, which now, for the first time, appear to have been contem- plated. The first experiment was made by the expulsion from the house, contrary to the constitu- tional act, of Ezekiel Ilart, on account of his pro- fessing the Jewish religion. This mcsuru naturally alarmed the British inhabitants, an J . .ve them a melancholy foreboding of tiie events that were in reserve for them. The violent language of debate, .^11 it i 1 >, '.'■■ though deprived of its natural and useful advantages, apparently' for the benefit of an individual. 7. May the commercial interests of this province have its due influence on the administration of its government. 114 THE LUBRLE:< I die constant appeal to popular prejudice, the undis- guised anti-English feeling of the legislative dema- gogues, and the seditious and revolutionary lan- guage of the " Canadian " newspaper, devoted to their interests, left no room to hope that the consti- tution could long work, in such unskilful and un- ])rincipled hands. The fifth provincial parliament was opened by ti>ir James Craig on the lOih of April, 1809, when theh- attention was called to the unsettled state of alTairs with the Americans, and they were required to consider of such means as might be necessary to place the province in a pos- iurc of defence. Instead of [irocceding, according to the urgency of the case, to deliberate on this pressing emergency, they commenced by an attack on the judges, and devising the means ftf removing them from the legislature; and manifested so much heat in their proceedings, and such a disrespectful inattention to the subject submitted to them, that, after five weeks wasted in angry discussions, the governor was under the necessity of expressing his di'^pleasure by a dissolution. On meeting the sixth ))arliament, which assembled on the 29th of Janu- ary, 1810, he informed them that he was instructed to assent to any bill for rendering the judges, in fu- ture, ineligible to seats in the house of assembly, in which the two houses should concur. This house, though a little moderated in tone by the firmness exhibited in dissolving them, were not to be di- verted from its schemes of ambition ; and now, for the first lime, was developed that deep-laid plan, which has since so signally succeeded, of placing every officer of the government at the mercy of the proA so t (I It ■1 I OF CANADA. 6d popular branch, and rendering the arm of the exe- cutive perfectly powerless. On the lOlh of Febru- ary they resolved, most unexpectedly, " that this house will vote in this session the necessary sums for defraying the civil expenses of the government of this province." Animated by the prosperous state of the revenue, in consequence of the Ame- rican embargo, the opportunity was considered a favourable one, by assuming the civil list, to gel a control over the officers of government, icho, being servants of the imperial state as well as the colony, would, by this measure, be at the mercy of the house, which would thus become alike independent of foreign or domestic control. As long as the ex- penditure of the civil establishment exceeded the revenue, derived from taxes on commerce, their liberality was content to permit the deficiency to be supplied by parliament; but now that the trea- sury was more than adequate to the task, they thought that a voluntary ofTer of this kind would throw the government otT of its guard, and be pro- bably accepted. The governor at once penetrated their designs, and very prudently and properly an- swered, that it would be necessary to have the concurrence of the legislative council, " in a matter in which, not '.Tierely as a co-ordinate branch of the legislature, but as composed of individuals having a large stake in the country it was interested ;" but that he would transmit to his Majesty their address as a proof of their abihty and their willingness to provide for the civil expenditure when called upon so to do. 4 ! \' \l .^! V iif «!i iil n ]i 60 THE BUBBLES In this year (1810) the treasury receipts were, £70,398 13 7 And the expenditure, .... 58,504 14 3 Leaving a clear surplus revenue of 11,833 It) ■] A bill disqualifying the judges was passed, and isent to the legislative council, who agreed to it, with a clause suspending its operation to the end of 1 he present house of assembly. Anxious to show I heir contempt of the legislative council, and for- getful, as well of the respect due to the representa- tive of the King, as of constitutional rights, they unmediately expelled the judges by resolution, as they had previously done Mr. Hart, leaving the go- vernor in the dilemma of sanctioning the act by is- suing new writs for elections, or of dissolving the house. It is needless to say that he adopted the latter course, and appealed again to the sense of the public. But here, unhappily, there was no pub- lic opinion to appeal to, which, in the words of a very able provincial writer,* is explained: — "by the peculiar habits of thought and character, which distinguish the French Canadians. These habits and character, originally formed by the despotic government, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, of Louis the Fourteenthof France, induced the French Canadian population chiefly to regard the immedi- at' agents of authority, who came in daily or fre- quent contact with them, by oral command or corjn- niunication. Thus, long after the conquest, the lowest agent of authority had only to present him- self, in the name of the King, to be instantly obey- • Mr. Fleinming. OF CANADA. 67 cd. It wus not a king, a governor, a general, a judge, or a bishop, with whom they had personal communication; these awful authorities they sur- veyed at a distr.nce, with due reverence; but their immediate obedience was considered as due to a seigneur, a justice of peace, an officer of militia, a bailifT, and a cure, or priest. When the British Parliament, therefore, established a house of assem- bly, the members of that newly constituted authori- ty, though chosen by themselves, were admitted to a great share of the habitual submission which thciv constituents were accustomed to pay to every agent of authority, who came into immediate contact with them. By the new constitution, the habitants, in fact, supposed that they were commanded by the governor, at every election, to choose rulers over themselves; and, having once chosen them, they readily admitted them to great authority and influ- ence over their opinions and conduct. Believing this to be the disposition of the ignorant peasantry of Lower Canada, we can have no difficulty in sup- posing that what, in a free and intelligent commu- nity, is properly called Public Opinion, is in this province merely the eflbctof the opinions of the im- mediate agents of authority, including the members of the assembly, operating upon the natural desires of a people attached to the laws, language, habits, manners, and prejudices of their French ancestors. The immediate agents of authority, therefore, who interfere the least with those characteristics, will bo the most favoured by them. We flatter ourselves that these explanations have enabled our readers to recognise the influence which predominated at the m ';t! ^' a ! ! * *ll I %^.^l n: t if 4'L h 1 Ijlll ' 68 THE BUBBLES new election in April, 1810. The sovereign was a Protestant king of a Protestant nation; tiie governor was a Protestant, as was tiic majority of his execu- tive council; the majority of the legislative council was also Protestant, and partly composed of per- sons in office, who received salaries. On the other hand, the members of the dissolved assembly were persons who professed the llomish religion, who held no lucrative office under the government, and who had been chosen as friendly to their civil and religious rights, and opposed to every measure which could disturb the routine of their hereditary labours and oijoyments. Indolent, particularly in mind, they could not analyze the conduct of their representatives, and discriminate the parts which belonged to inordinate and selfish ambition, from those which might bo ascribed to zeal for their ser- vice. The old members were so confident of the effects of those characteristics of their constituents,, that they derided every doubt of re-election." These expectations were justified by the event. The new and seventh house, assembled on the 12tli of December, 1810, and the English minority were now reduced to 7iitw members, in the interim. Sir James Craig, and the supporters of his government, were continual objects of obloquy and ridicule, and reports of the disapprobation of his conduct, and of his speedy recall and disgrace by his Majesty, were fabricated, as a means of enlisting the peasantry on the side of those who were determined systemati- cally to oppose the King's representative, whenever he would not consent to become the tool of their- ambition. OF CAI7AUA. 69 ■ii' The seditious and revolutionary doctrines disse- minated through " the Canadian," a paper devoted to this purpose, induced the governor to seize the press and imprison the conductors, and we are pro- bably indebted to this firm and decided measure, and to the determination* manifested in these two suc- * The nature of the arts used by the demagogues to inflame the minds, and alienate the aifections of the peasantry, will ap- pear from the following extracts from tlie governor's proclama- tion: " It is true, the most base and diabolical falsehoods are indus- triously promulgated and disseminated. In one part it is an- nounced as my intention to imbody and make soldiers of you, and that having applied to the late house of representatives to en- able nu? to assemble twelve thousand of you for that purpose, and they having declined to do so, I had therefore dissolved them. This is not only directly false, such an idea never having entered into ray mind, nor the slightest mention having ever been made of it; but it is doubly wicked and atrocious, because it has been ad- vanced by persons who must have been supposed to speak with cer- tainty ou the subject, and was therefore the more calculated to impose upon you. In another part you arc told that I wanted to tax your lands, and that the late house of assembly would consent only to tax wine, and upon that account, I had dissolved the house. Inhabitants of St. D^nis! this is also directly false; I never had the most distant idea of taxing you at all; such had never been for a moment the subject of my deliberations, and when the late house offered to pay the civil list, I could not have taken any step in a matter of such importance without the King's instructions, and therefore it was still long before we came to the consideration of how it was to be paid. In truth, not one word was ever, to my knowledge, mentioned on the subject. " In other parts, despairing of producing instances from what I have done, recourse is had to what I intend to do, and it is bold- ly told you that I mean to oppress you. " For what purpose should I oppress you? Is it to serve the King? Will that monarch, who during fifty years has never is- sued one order, that had you for its object, that was not for your benefit and happiness,— will he now, beloved, honoured, adored by 7 M I- :t » I* (1 ( It i'\' m I I I 10 THE BUBBLES cessive dissolutions of the assembly to the subdued and altered tone of their debates. It is observable that in their reply to his speech, they admit the fact here contended for, and which they have since so strenuously denied. " That harmony and a good understanding so conducive to the prosperity and happiness of the colony, are more difficult to be maintained in this province than in any other of his Majesty's colonies, from the diflerence in opi- nions, customs, and prejudices of his Majesty's sub- jects residing therein." The prompt check inter- posed by the executive to the violation of constitu- tional rights, in the expulsion of the judges* had the his 8ubjf!cts, covered with glory, descending into the vale of years, accompanied with the prayers nnd blessings of a grateful people, — will he, contrary to the tenor of a whole life of honour and vir- tue, now give orders to his servants to oppress his Canadian sub- jects? It is impossible that you can for a moment believe it. You will spnrn from you with just indignation the miscreant who will suggest such a thought to you. "These personal allusions to myself, these details, in any other case, might be unbecoming, and beneath me ; but nothing can be unbecoming, or beneath nie, that can tend to save you from the golf of crime and calamity into whicli guilty men would plunge you." — See Christie^a ' Canada.^ * Nothing can be more painful and humiliating than the situa- tion of the judges of Lower Canada since this period. They have been kept in a state of great pecuniary distress by the house with- holding their salaries, and their peace of mind destroyed by the most imfounded attteks on iheir claracler. If an attorney be de- tected in fraudulent proceedings, and punished, or be dissatisfied >»ilh a judgment of the court, the judge is at once impeached amidst the plaudits of the he use. After preliminary proceedings, and an opportunity offered of abuse, the proceedings arc generally dropt on the ground that goverimient is partial and corrupt. By a singular fatality, every man that accuses a judge finds it a step to preferment. Judge Vallicres was the accuser of Judge Kerr, OF CANADA. 71 desired effect, and they now passed a bill to dis- qualify them, to which the governor assented, as he said, " with peculiar satisfaction, not only because I think the matter right in itself, but because I con- sider passing an act for the purpose as a complete renunciation of an erroneous principle, which put me under the necessity of dissolving the last parlia- ment.'*^ Feeling that nothing was to be gained from such a man by intimidation, they proceeded to the usual business with more decency of conduct and more despatch, than had characterized any session since the constitutional act had gone into operation. In the mean time, Sir George Provost arrived to take the command of the government, and we are indebted to the determined attitude assumed by his predecessor, to the hereditary hatred borne by the Canadians to the Americans, to the fear they enter- tained of passing into the hands of an uncompro- mising people, and to the large sum expended upon the imbodied militia, that they did not ♦hen avail them- selves of the opportunity of throwing off the depen- dence, which it has since been their unceasing object to effect. But thou n;h their attention was in some mea- sure directed to the protection of their prgperty from the common enemy, they did not fail to convince impartial men, by their conduct, that they were pre- serving the country for themselves, and not for the empire, of which they then formed a part, by the for- tune of war and not from choice. To bring the go- on charges sixteen years old. Philip Parrct, a party and witness thereto, was made a judge in 1832. Ebcnczer Peck, who brought charges against Judge Fleteher, was presented with a silk gown in 1832. And A. Qucsnel, the same. See > Canada Question ' for more particulars. i ■ M,f ."^' : 1:11 vim M'C^ 'crrmt 72 THE BUBBLES vernment of the country into contempt, it was neces- sary to impugn the integrity of the bench and the impartial administration of the law, and they there- fore impeached the judges; and when the governor, whose liberal patronage had hitherto shielded him from attack, declined to suspend these functiona- ries till the result of their complaint should be known, and refused to make their punishment precede their trial, they resolved " that his excellency the go- vernor-in-chief, by his answer to the address of the house, had violated the constitutional rights and pri- vileges thereof." Sufficient has now been said to show you that the evils of Canada have their origin in the defects of the constitutional act, which by substituting French for English laws, by securing to them an overwhelming majority in the assembly, and in se- parating them from Upper Canada, have had the effect of making them a French and not an English colony. National antipathies, added to a difference in religion, laws, and language, have contributed to engender and foster a feeling of hostility between the two races, until it has found vent in open colli- sion. It would exceed the limits I have assigned to myself to review the proceedings of each sepa- rate house : suffice it to say, that the system of per- secution, the commencement of which I have ex- hibited in the foregoing pages, was subsequently pursued with unremitting zeal. Ha.ing driven the judges from the house, (though they failed in their impeachment,*) they succeeded in extorting from * " The adminislrator-in-chicf has received the commands of his Royal Higncss the Prince Regent, to make known to the house jii OF CAM-ADA. 78 government their discharge from the council. They then vacated the seats of executive counsellors by the unconstitutional mode of resolution, and finding f' if it) >r of assembly of this province liis pleasure, on the subject of certain chargCH preferred by that Iiouhc against the chief justice of the province, and the ciiief jubticu of the Court of King's Bench for tho district of Montreal. " With respect to such of those charges as relate to nets done by a former governor of the province, wiiicli the assembly, as- suming to bo improper or illcgul, imputud, by a similar assump- tion, to advice given by the ciiicf justice to that governor, hits Royal Highness has deemed tiiat no inquiry could bo necessary, inasmuch as none could be instituted without the admission of the principle, tiiat the governor of a province migiit, at his own dis- crction, divest himself of all responsibility, on points of political !jovernincnt. " With a view, therefore, to the general interests of tho province, Iiis Royal Highness was pleased to refer for consideration to the lords of the privy council sueli only of the charges brought by the assembly as related to the rules of practice established by the judges in their respective courts, those being points upon which, if any iuipropriety had existed, tlie judges themselves were solely responsible. " By the annexed copy of his Royal Highncss's Order in Council, dated the 2I)th June, 1815, tiie administrator-in-chicf conveys to the assetnj'y the result of this investigation, which has been conducted witii all that attention and solemnity which the importance of tlie subject required. • " In making this communication to the assembly, it now be- comes the duty of the administrator-in chief, in obedience to the commands of liis royal highness the Prince Regent, to express the regret vvitli which his royal liighness has viewed their late pro- eecdings against two persons wlio have so long and so ably filled the highest judicial oiHces in the colony, a circumstance the more to be deplored as tending to disparage, in the eyes of the inconsi- derate and ignorant, their character and services, and thus to di- minish the influence to whicli, from their situation and their uni- form propriety of conduct, they arc justly entitled. 7* ::m ■ ' I- f:J u "W i .'',iim£^ |j 1 '^^ i ^■*'^w''l i '' ■ 1 in §1 m 74 THE BUBBLES there was no means of controlling their power, pro- ceeded by repeated expulsions to drive out a mem- ber, for advice offered to the governor in a ministo- rial capacity ; and reprimanded another officer for legal opinions given to the executive in the usual course of his profession. Every thing was done that ingenuity could devise, not only to weaken the influence of government, but to represent that in- fluence as unfriendly to the country and prejudi- cial to its interests. Nothing, however, occurred until the year 1818, to bring them into direct colli- sion with the mother country, until Sir John Sher- brookc demanded that they should provide for the civil expenses of the province. " Tlic iiliovc communication, embracing such only of tiic cliargrs preferred against the said cliief justices as relate to the rules of practice, and as arc grounded on advice assumed to liavc been given by the chief justice of the province to the late Sir James Craig, the administrator-in-chicf, lias been further commanded to signify to the assembly, that the other charges appeared to his Majesty's government to be, witli one exception, too inconsidera- ble to require investigation, and that that, (namely the one against the chief justice of the court of King's Bench for the district of Montreal, which states him to liave refused a writ of Iiabcas corpus,) was, in common with all the eiiargcs which do not relate to the rules of practice, totally unsupported by any cvi- (innce wliatcvcr. (Signed) Gordon Drummond, Administratorin-Ci)ief." h!';ii OF CANADA. 75 -'■11 LETTER VI. The opportunity had now arrived that designing men had so craftily sought for, of fastening a fjuar- rel upon the government, of involving it in a defence of its officers, and of making their promised com- pliance a condition for obtaining any change that might be ihought conducive to the great ends of weakening British influence. After discussions, first on the gross amount to be granted, and then on the specific appropriation, had excited and con- solidated the party, they took the higher ground of disputing the right of the crown to those revenues which were secured to it by permanent grants. In order that you may clearly understand the question, it is necessary to state that the public income of Lower Canada arises from three sources : — 1st. The crown duties, levied under the British sta- tute of the 14 Geo. III., or the imperial act of 3 Geo. IV. 2d. Provincial duties, payable in virtue of local laws, proceeding immediately from the provincial legislature, or rendered permanent without their consent, by the last-mentioned imperial act. 3d. The Queen's casual and territorial revenue, which arises from her Majesty's landed property ; namely, the Jesuits' estates, the Queen's posts, the forges of St. Maurice, the Queen's wharf, droit dc quents, lods and vents, land fund, and timber fund. With respect to crown duties, levied under 14 .m n M-ff ^""'1'fl I''. 76 THB DUnOLKS Geo. III., until they were unwisely surrendered in 1831, they were, vvilh the territorial revenue, con- trolled and dispensed by her Majesty's responsible servants, while those levied under the imperial act of 3 CJeo. IV., and all prc'incial acts, have always been under the disposal of the legislature. As the crown duties, levied under the 14 Geo. III., had gc- nerally, if not always, been inadequate to the support of the civil goverimiciit and the administration of justice. Sir John Sherbrookc was instructed, in pursuance of the general system of retrenchment adopted throughout the empire, to call upon the le- gislature to appropriate, out of the provincial duties, a sum equal to the annual deficiency. To this rea- sonable request tliuy have manifested a uniform re- })ugnancc, sometimes granting it, always object- ing, and, finally, refusing altogether. They al- leged now, for the first time, that the crown duties were illegal, inasmuch as the statute under which they were levied had been repealed. The reason of their making this objection was, because the pro- ceeds were not under their control, and their object was to make the executive dependent upon them for its support, by an annual vote. The existence of this statute was an insurmountable difiiculty, and as they had not the power to repeal it, their only resource was to impugn its legality. The appropri- ation of the duties was thus provided for in the Act:— *' That all the moneys that shall arise by the said duties, except the necessary charges of raising, col- lecting, levying, recovering, answering, paying and accounting for the same, shall be paid by the col- Uotnr nf Ki'-s Majesty's customs into the hands of his great or CAITADA. 77 Majesty's rccoivcr-gencral in the said province for the time being, and shall bo applied in the first place in making a more certain and adequate provision to- wards defraying the expenses of the administration of justice, and of the support of civil government in that province ; and that the lord higli treasurer, or commissioner of his Majesty's treasury, or any three or more of them for the time being, shall be, and is or are hereby empowered from time to time, by any warrant or warrants under his or their hand or hands, to cause such money to be applied out of the said produce of the said duties towards defraying the said expenses ; and that the residue of the said duties shall remain and be reserved in the hands of the said receiver-general for the future disposition of parliament." The statute on which they relied was the 18th Geo. III. The history of that act of parliament you will doubtless recollect. Great Britain had set up a claim to impose taxes, for the purpose of general revenue, upon the colonics (now forming the United States,) which, as might naturally be supposed, ex- cited universal opposition — causing at first, popular tumult, and afterwards open rebellion. Finding that this claim could neither be justified nor en- forced, it was expressly renounced, in the following words : — '* Whereas taxation by the parliament of Great Bri- tain for the purpose of raising a revenue in his Ma- jesty's colonies, provinces, and plantations in North America, has been found by experience to occasion great uneasiness and disorders among his Majesty's faithful subjects, who may nevertheless be disposed to acknowledge the justice of contributing to the ■'{ i •;i i r ,' f "i>i... 78 THE BUBBLES common defence of the empire, provided such con- tribution should be raised under the authority of the general court or general assembly of each respective colony, province, or plantation; and, whereas, in order as well to remove the said uneasiness and to quiet the minds of his Majesty's subjects who may be disposed to return to their allegiance, as to restore the peace and welfare of all his Majesty's domi- nions, it is expedient to declare that tlie king and parliament of Great Britain will not impose any duty, tax, or assessment for the purpose of raising a revenue in any of the colonies, provinces, o" plan- tations. " That from and after the passing of that act, the king and parliament of Great Britain would not im- pose any duty, tax, or assessment whatever, paya- ble in any of his IMajcsty's colonics, provinces, and plantations in ]\orth America, imd the West Indies, except only such duties as it might be expedient to impose for the regulation of commerce; the net pro- duce of such duties to be always paid and applied to and for the use of the colony, province, and plan- tation in which the same shall be respectively le- vied, in such manner as other duties collected by the a! thority of the respective general courts, or general assemblies of such colonics, provinces, or plantations aie ordinarily paid and applied." That the renunciation of a right to impose taxes hereafter involves a repeal of those in existence, is an assumption which it is not necessary to refute. Indeed, no person did the party the injustice to be- lieve that they sincerely thought so themselves, espe- cially as in that province there was a local act, 35 Geo. III., c. 9, adopting its phraseology, and recog- OF CANADA. 79 nizing its validity, by raising an additional revenue, for the farther support ef tiie government, to which pur- pose this act alone had any reference. It answered, however, the purposes of the party ; it disorganized the government, and prevented English emigrants from removing to a colony in which evident prepara- tion was making for a separation from the parent state. It also served to scatter the seeds of complaints, which soon germinated, and ripened into a plentiful harvest. It is the fashion in this country to call every change reform, the exercise of every acknow- ledged right, an abuse, and every salutary restraint a grievance. In the colonies we have long looked to Great Britain as our model, and we have import- ed this fashion from her, as well as many other mo- dern innovations. If agitation is successful here, why may it not be so there? — if popular clamour requires and obtains concessions at home, there is no good reason why it should not be equally fortu- nate abroad ; if those who are the most clamorous, are first attended to, because they are the most dis- tinctly heard, why may not the colonists learn to exalt their voices also, in hopes of similar success ? — as the old cock crows so docs the young. The English have long held themselves up as models, and such distinguished people must not be surprised if they who ape their n:anners, occasionally copy some of their follies also. The force of example is too strong to be restrained by precept. Tiiese financial disputes extended over the whole period of the administration of the Duke of Richmond, Lord Dalhousie, and Sir James Kempt, with more or less intensity, according to the supply of fresh fuel fur- iV;;i I 'ki .'.♦• y^tl \% m THE BUBBLES nished by irritating matter of an extraneous nature. Complaints soon multiplied upon complaints; public meetings were held ; violent speeches made, valiant resolutions passed ; and, finally, delegates chosen to demand a redress of grievances from the Impe- rial Parliament. When the delegates arrived in this country, they found public opinion with them. It is the interest, as well as the duty of the English to govern their colonics justly and kiiidly; and no man but a Frenchman would affirm that their inclination re- quires the incitement of either. Tiieir complaints were referred to a committee composed of persons by no means indisposed towards the petitioners, who, after a patient and laborious investigation of the subjects in dispute, made a rcj)orl:, which was acknowledged by the assembly to be both on able and an impartial one, and quite satisfactory. It will be unnecessary to recapitulate the subjects re- ferred, or to transcribe the report, because both the one and the other will be best understood by a mi- nute of Lord Aberdeen, to which I shall hereafter al- lude more particularly, in which he distinctly proves that the recommendations of that committee, so far as depended upon the government, were most strictly and fully complied with. By adopting this course, I shall be able to spare you a great deal of useless repetition. The manner in which the report of the committee was received by the dominant party in Canada, the praise bestowed upon its authors, and the exulta- tion they expressed at their success, deceived the government as to the source of these noisy demon- strations of pleasure. They conceived it to be the OF CANADA. 81 mitlec la, the ;xulta- ;d the emon- be the natural impulse of generous minds towards those who had thus kindly listened to their solicitations, and liberally granted even more than they had re- quired. But they knew not their men. It- was the shout of victory that they mistook for the plaudits of loyalty. It was not designed to greet the ears of benefactors with grateful acknowledgments, but to wound the feelings of their neighbours with the cheers of triumph. Tiiey devoted but little time to mutual congratulations. Sterner feelings had sup- plied the place of rejoicing. They set themselves busily to work to improve their advantage; and, having established themselves in the outworks which were thus sin*rcndered to them, they now turned their attention to storming the citadel. While government was engaged in carrying into execu- tion the recommendations of the committee with as much despatch as the peculiar state of politics in Great Britain at that time permitted, the assembly put themselves in a posture of complaint again. Fourteen resolutions were passed, imbodying some of the old and embracing some new grievances, and an agent appointed to advocate their claims. While representations in the name of the whole population were thus sent to England, expressing only the sentiment of one portion of the people, the settlers of British origin were loud in their com- plaints that they were unrepresented, and that they had no constitutional means of being heard. Fearing that this remonstrance, which was so well founded, might be redressed in the same quarter to which they had applied so successfully for relief themselves, the assembly affected to listen to their petitions, and made a new electoral division of the ^1 82 THE BUBBLES province. Ter sons of French small counties; those of British by joining that rous in French were rendered thus : ritories inhabited principally by pcr- origin, they divided into numerous while others, where a large body of origin resided, thev so divided that, territory with another more nume- inhabitants, the votes of the British ineffectual. The proportion stood Say 3-2 counties, returning two members each, by French ninjorities 2 Ditto • - ditto, one ench (say Montmo- renci and Uruniinnnil) - 1 Engtish majority. Marantic ;j Ditto - - - - Slierbrooke, Stanstcad, Missisquoi, Ottawa, anil SlK'fford, 2 each .... Total ■ 40 Counties. Two cities, French majority, Quebec and Mon- treal, 4 each - ■ - " • Two towns • ditto • Throe Kivcts, 2; and VViDiain Flenry, i - - . - . British. Foreign. • 04 1 .1 10 — - 'A 11 •l Total, 88 Members. Of the extreme partiality of this division there never has been but one opinion in the colonies, until they were so fortunate as to be favoured with the distinction drawn by the commif^sioners, who ad- mitted that its operation was a practical exclusion, but exonerated the bill from a charge of unfair- ness — an instance of even-handed justice (deciding in favour of both parties) which ought to have won them the praise of all men. In addition to this ex- clusion, so extraordinarily designated as unjust but n©t unfair, they established the quorum of the house for the transaction of business at forty, being only four less than a moiety of the whole body. i OF CAXADA. 83 ! The large number thus required to be present to oonstilutc a house still farther depressed the in- tluencc of the minority, and enabled the majority to deprive them of their parliamentary privileges at pleasure, by rendering the transaction of business iinpossible, except when it suited the convenience of the stronger party to allow it. Having disposed of the complaints of the Briti^ '? fettlcrs in a way to prevent them from being trou- blesome in the house, they returned to the consi- deration of their own grievances; and, that the mo- tives actuating the party might not be disclosed, and to prevent any member of the opposition from being present at their deliberations, they adopted the extraordinary mode of permitting a person moving for a committee to name all the individuals whom he desired to be appointed as members. They also resolved that, if the legislative council did not concur in a bill ^or paying their emissary to England, they would, in the plenitude of their power, pay him themselves out of the public revenue with- out their concurrence. This singular assumption stands recorded thus : " Monday, 28th March, 1831.— llesolved, that in the present state of the public ailairs of this pro- vmce, it is indispensably necessary that some per- son, having the confidence of this house, should proceed forthwith to England, to represent to his Majesty's government the interests and sentiments of the inhabitants of the province, and support the petitions of this house to his Majesty and both Houses of Parliament " Resolved, — That in the event of the bill sent up hv this house to the lesrislativc council, on the 5th it^' «ii 1 i ¥ I ^n ! ;• t Si 1:11 ''mi. i' ■m 81 THK DUDBLES .M instant, not receiving the concurrence of that house in the present session, the Honourable Denis B. Viger, Esq., member of the legislative council, named agent of the province in the said bill, be re- quested to proceed to England without delay, for the purposes mentioned in the foregoing resolution. " Resolved, — That it is expedient that the neces- sary and unavoidable disbursements of the said Denis Benjamin Viger, for efTecting the purposes aforesaid, not exceeding .i[?l,O0O, be advanced, and paid to him by the clerk of this house, out of the contingent fund thereof, till such time as the said disbursements can be otherwise provided for." And, to show their contempt of that co-ordinate branch of the legislature, and their determination to legislate for the colony without their concurrence, and by their sole authority, as well as to stigmatize tiie officers of the government as enemies of the country, they farther resolved — •' That until such time as the royal assent shall be given to a bill conformable to a resolution of this house of the 17th March, 1825, for vacating the seats of members accepting offices, and similar to the bills passed by this house in tiie years 182G, 1827, 1828, and 1830, the second and foin'th of which were reserved for the signification of his Majesty's plea- sure, the seat of any member of this house who shall accept of any office or place of j)rofit under the crown in thJs province, or become accountable for any pul>- lic moiiey hereafter appropriated within this pro- vince, shall, by this ucceptance, be deemed by this house 10 be vacant, and a new writ shall be issued for a new election, as if such person so accepting was or CAWADA. ■85 naturally dead; nevertheless such person shall be ca- pable of being again re-elected, and of sitting and voting in this house, as if his seat had not been va- cated as aforesaid. " Resolved, — That any member of this house sit- ting and voting therein after such acceptance, be ex- pelled this house," At the same time, while they refused to govern- ment the means of paying its officers, they were most prodigal of the public money upon themselves and their dependants. There arc certain funds ap- propriated for the contingent expenses of the house; and, legally, neither the house nor any of its officers have any right to apply them to any other purposes. It is a trust fund, on the expenditure of which doubt- less a certain degree of discretion may be exercised, but still a discretion having certain limits. It is (juite manifest that if the house could legally apply this fund to other objects than those for which it was sjiecifically appropriated, tiiey would, for all the pur- poses of such application, exercise sole legislative power, to the exclusion of the other two branches of the legislature. The case of Mr. Vigor, above re- ferred to, is a flagrant violation of this principle. The expenses for printing alone during this year (1831) for the assembly, at one only of its favourite establishments, was considerably over £5,000, ex- clusive of other presses; and this enormous sum is also exclusive of the cost of printing the laws, or of the expenses of the council. Pretexts were not wanted, where the disposition existed, to provide for their dependants. A supoena was all that was ne- cessary to obtain a warrant for a gratuity, which, to 8« • \1 ■ ' X' '!i i J ! Ul ! rvu ^■rm 8h. THE BUBBLES one individual, covered a charge of j£l20,and on one petition amounted to ^6700. "Some witnesses," says a gentleman of the bar at Quebec, " one sees as regularly about a fortnight after the sessions as swal- lows in the spring: and although they do not last quite so long, yet they hardly leave Quebec before either the house or the roads break up." It will hardly be credited, that this house, which is so clamorous for cheap government, expends on itself thirteen thousand pounds a year — one thou- sand of which is paid to Mr. Papincau, the patriot; and that the gross amount of the legislative expenses is ^18,000. Some idea of the purity " of our en- slaved and oppressed brethren " may be formed from the fact that, previous to 1829, the amount of mo- neys voted for education had not exceeded £3,500. At ihA period it was found it could be turned to a better account than education, they therefore consti- tuted the members of the house visiters of the schools in the counties they represent, the money being drawn on their certificates only, to which by law they are privilesred to affix their crosses, instead of the more difficult process of writing their names. Since then the grants have wonderfully increased. In 1830 1831 1832 1833 4ii ^27,840 25,261 29,233 22,500 When the fourteen resolutions above referred to were passed, the governor, who had recently arrived, ',. fl'l OF CANADA. 87 to f could not but feel astonished that the same people who had so lately expressed their delight and satis- faction at the report of the proceedings of parliament, and who knew that the recommendations of the committee were in a train of execution, should he again as clamorous as ever, and very prudently and properly entreated them to put an end to the com- plaint, by bringing forward at once every grievance they had, that it might be met and redressed at the same time. The earnest manner in which this is pressed upon them is worthy of notice. What were the sources of his lordsliip's satisfaction, which he twice expresses in this answer, I am utterly at a loss to imagine, unless we may conjecture it to have arisen from the consciousness of possessing a phi- losophy which enabled him to subdue and control his indignation at the insatiable demands and gross ingratitude of those whom it was his duty to ad- dress. " I can assure you," he said, " gentlemen, that I have derived satisfaction from listening to the peti- tion which has just been read by Mr. Speaker, be- cause the subject-matter of it is distinct and tangible, and because I feel assured that of the causes of com- plaint therein set forth, many will be eventually re- moved, and others modified; in the mean while it is very agreeable to me to have it in my power to state that some of those causes of complaint have been al- ready put by me in a train of amelioration at least, if not of removal altogether; and I beg the house of assembly to believe that my efforts shall be unremit- ting in pursuing the same course to the utmost ex- tent of ray authority as the King's representative. ^■1 f III- 't(i > I i'l ir n .'';:•! R . m . i; S8 THE BUDDLES Thus far I can, with a safe conscience, declare, thai the present communication is satisfactory to me; but I cannot conceal from the house, that it vouhl have been infinitely more so, could I feel assured that the whole matter of their complaints is comprised in this petition. Gentlemen, I must go a step farther than this, and confess to you, that I cannot divest my mind of anxiety on this subject; it is with the view of being relieved from this state of anxiety that I now come forward to entreat you will admit me to your confidence, and acquaint me whether I am to expect any, and what farther, communications on the subject of complaints and grievances. " I think I have even a claim upon you for the confidence I now solicit. The propositions whicli upon a recent occasion I was commanded by the King to make to you on the subject of finance, were laid before you in the plainest and most straightfor- ward manner — nothing was concealed — nothing was glossed over; and I even believe that T should have been justified had I made those propositions more palatable to you than I have done; but I considered that any thing which could bear, even for a moment, I he appearance of trick or manojuvre on so grave an occasion, was unworthy of his Majesty's government, and an injustice to the rank and loyal character of the Canadian people. What I now ask in return for this fair dealing, is a corresponding proceeding on the part of the house of assembly. Am I to under- stand, that the petition which I have just heard read conveys all that the house of assembly have to com- plain of up to this day? Or am I to understand that there remains something behind — some un- OF CANADA. 8» ripe grievance or complaint which it may be in- tended to bring forward hereafter, when those now produced shall have been disposed of? This is the information I ask of you. This, gentleman, is t!ie information which I will even implore you to afford me, in the name of the King, our sovereign, who is sincerity itself, and in the name of the brave and honest people of Canada, wlio arc so well entitled to expect fair dealing in every quarter: and now, if there be any stray complaint, any < icvance, how- ever inconsiderable in itself, whici .lay have been overlooked when this petition was adopted by this house, I beseech you, gentlemen, to take it back again, in order that the deficiency may be supplied, and that thus both king and people may be enabled at one view to see the whole extent of what you comjjlain of, and what you require. " Whether this appeal to your candour shall draw from you any farther declaration, stating that your petition contains the whole matter of your complaints and grievances, or that you shall main- tain silence, I shall equally consider that I have ac- quired a full and distinct knowledge of the whole of your complaints and grievances up to the present period; and your petition will be accompanied by an assurance from me to that effect, and my most fervent wishes that it may be productive of such measures as shall restore perfect harmony to this fa- voured land, where I firmly believe a larger share of happiness and prosperity is to be found than amongst any people in the universe. *« Castle of St. Louis, Quebec, 23d March, 1831." • I,' ' ! Hi I i'1 ^' . ' I i'i t ; ... It HM^. I',! I'l^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1^ |2.8 ■ 50 '™^* 1^ i lu m |2.2 ' m m 1 '' 1^ 1 IP^ llllsSSSBS 1 > 4 J4 Photographic Sciences Corporalion 33 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. UStO (716) •72-4303 ^\ m o 4^ ^ ^ 1)0 THB OUBBLKS Having given Ihem this gracious reception, his lordship communicated these resolutions to the se- cretary for the colonies; to whose answer, as it enu- merates the complaints for the purpose of giving to each a distinct and separate answer, I refer you for the particulars as well of the resolutions as of the re- medies. " The King has been graciously pleased to express his approbation of the efforis made by your lordship to ascertain, with precision, the full extent of the grievances of which the assembly consider them- selves entitled to complain; and assuming, in con- currence with your lordship, that the address of the assembly contains a full development of those grievances, the exposition which is to be found there of the views of that body, justifies the satisfactory inference that there remains scarcely any question upon which the wishes of that branch of the legisla- ture are at variance with the policy which his Ma- jesty has been advised to pursue; and I, therefore, gladly anticipate the speedy and effectual termina- tion of those differences, which have heretofore so much embarras«!ed the operations of the local govern- ment. " No office can be more grateful to the King than that of yielding to the reasonable desires of the rep- resentative body of Lower Canada; and whilst his Majesty's servants have the satisfaction of feeling, that upon some of the most important topics referred to in the address of the assembly, its w^ishes have been anticipated, they trust that the instructions which I am now about to convey to you, will still farther evince their earnest desire to combine with OF CANADA. 9L i^. % than rep- his ling, erred have tions still with -/■'■ \'^' ^ the due and lawful exercise of tHe constitutional au- thority of the crown, an anxious solicitude for the well-being of all classes of his faithful subjects in the province. " I proceed to notice the various topics embraced in the address of the assembly to the King. I shall observe the order which they have followed; and, with a view to perspicuity, I shall preface each suc- cessive instruction, which I have his Majesty's com- mands to convey to your lordship, by the quotation of the statements made upon the same topic by the Assembly themselves. " First, it is represented that the progress which has been made in the education of the people of the province, under the encouragement afforded by,the recent acts of the legislature, has been greatly im- peded by the diversion of the revenues of the Je- suits' estates, originally destined for this purpose. " His Majesty's government do not deny that the Jesuits' estates were, on the dissolution of that order, appropriated to the education of the people; and I readily admit, that the revenue which may result from that propert)'-, should be regarded as inviolably and exclusively applicable to that object. " It is to be regretted, undoubtedly, that any part of those funds were ever applied to any other pur- pose; but although, in former times, your lordship's predecessors may have had to contend with difficul- ties which caused and excused that mode of appro- priation, I do not feel myself now called upon to enter iiito any consideration of that part of the sub- ject " If, however, I may rely on the returns which 92 THB BUBBLES lii have been made to this department, the rents of the Jesuits' estates have, during the few last years, been devoted exclusively to the purposes of education, and my despatch, dated 24th December last, marked 'separate,' sufficiently indicates that his Majesty's ministers had resolved upon a strict adherence to that principle several months before the present ad- dress was adopted. " The only practical question which remains for consideration is, whether the application of these funds for the purpose of education should be directed by his Majesty or by the provincial legislature. The King cheerfully and without reserve confides that duty to the legislature, in the full persuasion that they will make such a selection amongst the different plans which may be presented to their no- tice, as may most effectually advance the interests of religion and sound learning amongst his subjects; and I cannot doubt that the assembly will see the justice of continuing to maintain, under the new dis- tributions of these funds, those scholastic establish- ments to which they are now applied. "I understand that certain buildings on the Je- suits' estates which were formerly used for collegiate purposes, have since been uniformly employed as a barrack for the King's troops. It would obviously be highly inconvenient to attempt any immediate change in this respect, and I am convinced that the assembly would regret any measure which might di- minish the comforts or endanger the health of the King's forces. If, however, the assembly should be disposed to provide adequate barracks so as perma- nently to secure those important objects, his Majes- OF CANADA. 93 ajes- ty will be prepared (upon the completion of such an arrangement in a manner satisfactory to your lord- ship) to acquiesce in the appropriation of the build- ings in question to the same purposes as those to which the general funds of the Jesuits' estates are now about to be restored. " I should fear that ill-founded expectations may have been indulged respecting the value and pro- ductiveness of these estates; in this, as in most other cases, concealment appears to have been followed by exaggeration, as its natural consequence. Had the application of the assembly for an account of the proceeds of these estates been granted, much misap- prehension would probably have been dispelled. My regret for the effect of your decisioh to with- hold these accounts, does not, however, render me insensible to the propriety and apparent weight of the motives by which your judgment was guided. Disavowing, however, every wish for concealment, I am to instruct your lordship to lay these accounts before the assembly in the most complete detail, at the commencement of their next session, and to sup- ply the house with any farther explanatory state- ments which they may require respecting them. " It appearing that the sum of ^67,154. 15s. 42^- has been recovered from the property of the late Mr. Caldwell, in respect to the claims of the crown against him on account of the Jesuits* estates, your lordship will cause that sum to be placed at the disposal of the legislature for general purposes. The suna of £1,200. 3s. 4d., which was also recovered on account of the same property, must also be placed at the disposal of the legislature, but should, with ! ;i v,\l 94 THE BUBBLUS reference to the principles already noticed, be con- sidered as applicable to the purposes of education exclusively. " Secondly. — The house of assembly represent that the progress of education has been impeded by the withholding grants of land promised for schools in the year 1801. "On reference to the speech delivered in that year by the then governor to the two houses of provincial legislature, I find that such an engage- ment as the address refers to was actually made; it of course therefore is binding on the crown, and must now be carried into effect, unless there be any circumstances of which I am not apprized, which may have cancelled the obligation contracted in 1801, or which may have rendered the fulfilment of it at the present time impracticable. If any such circumstances really exist, your lordship will report them to me immediately, in order that the fit course to be taken may be farther considered. "Thirdly. — The rejection by the legislative coun- cil of various bills in favour of education is noticed as the last of the impediments to the progress of education. " Upon this subject it is obvious that his Majesty's government have no power of exercising any con- trol, and that they could not interfere with the free exercise of the discretion of the legislative council, tvithout the violation of the most undoubted maxims of the constitution. How far that body may have actually counteracted the wishes of the assembly on this subject I am not very exactly informed, nor would it become me to express an opinion on the OF CANADA. 05 wisdom or propriety of any decision which they may have formed of that nature. The assembly »nay, however, be assured, that whatever legitimate influence his Majesty's government can exercise, will always be employed to promote in every direc- tion all measures which have for their object the religious, moral, or literary instruction of the people of Lower Canada. " Fourthly. — The address proceeds to state, that the management of the waste lands of the crown has been vicious and improvident, and still impedes the settlement of those lands. *' This subject has engaged, and still occupies, my most anxious attention, and I propose to address your lordship upon it at length in a separate despatch. The considerations connected with the settlement of waste lands arc too numerous and extensive to be conveniently imbodied in a despatch embracing so many other subjects of discussion. " Fifthly. — The exercise by parliament of its power of regulating the trade of the province, is said to have occasioned injurious uncertainty in mercantile speculations, and prejudicial fluctua- tions in the value of real estate, and of the different branches of industry connected with trade. " It is gratifying to find that this complaint is connected with a frank acknowledgment that the power in question has been beneficially exercised on several occasions for the prosperity of Lower Canada. It is, I fear, an unavoidable consequence of the connexion which happily subsists between the two countries, that Parliament should occasion- ally require of the commercial body of Lower Ca- m ir v 96 THE BUBBLES nada, some mutual sacrifices for the general good of the empire at large: I therefore shall not attempt to deny, that the changes in the commercial policy in this kingdom during the last few years may have been productive of occasional inconvenience and loss to that body, since scarcely any particular in- terest can be mentioned in Great Britain of which some sacrifice has not been required during the same period. The most which can be effected by legislation on such a subject as this, is a steady though gradual advance towards tiiose great objects which an enlightened regulation contemplates. The relaxation of restrictions on the trade of the British Colonies, and the development of their resources, have been kept steadfastly in view amidst all the alterations to which the address refers, and I con- fidently rely on the candour of the house of assembly, to admit that, upon the whole, no inconsiderable advance towards those great ends has been made. They may rest assured, that the same principles will be steadily borne in mind by his Majesty 's govern- ment, in every modification of the existing law which they may at. any future period have occasion to re- commend to parliament. '* Sixthly. — The assembly in their address pro- ceed to state that the inhabitants of the different towns, parishes, townships, extraparochial places and counties of the province, suffer from the want of sufficient legal powers for regulating and ma- naging their local concerns. " 1 am happy in the opportunity which at present presents itself, of demonstrating the desire of his Majesty's government to co-operate with the local legislature in the redress of every grievance of this OF CANADA. 07 The three bills whicli nature. The three bills which your lordship re- served for the signification of his Majesty's plea- sure in the last session of the assembly, establishing the parochial divisions of the province, and for the incorporation of the cities of Quebec and Montreal, will be confirmed and finally enacted by his Majesty in council, with the least possible delay, and I ex- pect to be able very shortly to transmit to your lordship the necessary orders in council for that purpose. " I very sincerely regret that the bill passed for the legal establishment of parishes in the month of March, 1829, should have been defeated by the de- lay which occurred in transmitting the official con- firmation of it to the province. The case appears U) have been, that owing to the necessity, whether real or supposed, of laying the act before both houses of parliament for six weeks before its con- firmation by the King in Council, many months elapsed after its arrival in this kingdom before that form could be observed, and his late Majesty's pro- tracted illness delayed still longer the bringing it under the consideration of the King in Council. "If it should be the opinion of the Colonial legis- lature that additional provisions are wanting to ena- ble the local authorities in counties, cities, or pa- rishes, to regulate their own more immediate af- fairs, your lordship will understand, that you are at liberty, in his Majesty's name, to assent to any well- considered laws which may be presented to you for iliat purpose. '• Seventhly. — I proceed to the next subject of complaint, which is, that uncertainty and confusion 9* ', '■* US THE DUDItLES « I has been introduced into ttie laws for the security and regulation of property, by the intermixture of different codes of laws and rules of proceeding in the courts of justice. " The intermixture to which the address refers, so far as I am aware, arises from the English crimi- nal code having been maintained by the British sta- tute of 1774, and from the various acts of parliament which have introduced into the province the soccage tenure, and subjected all lands so holden to the Eng- lish rules of alienation and descent. " As a mere matter of fact, there can be no doubt that the infusion of these parts of the law of Eng- land into the provincial code, was dictated by the most sincere wish to promote the general welfare of the people of Lower Canada; this was especially the case with regard to the criminal law, as is sufficiently apparent from the language of the 11th section of the 14 Geo. III., c. 83. With regard to the advantage to be anticipated from the substitu- tion of tenure in soccage for feudal services, I may remark, that Parliament could scarcely be other- wise than sincerely convinced of the benefits of that measure, since the maxims upon which they pro- ceeded are in accordance with the conclusion of almost all theoretical writers and practical states- men. J am not, indeed, anxious to show that these were just, but I think it not immaterial thus to have pointed out that the errors, if any, which they in- volve, can be attributed only to a sincere zeal for the good of those whom the enactments in question more immediately affect. " I fully admit, however, that this is a subject of local and internal policy, upon which far greater or CANADA. 00 ^vcigl)t is duo to tho doliborato judgment of onligiit- ened men in tho province than to any external au- thority whatever. Your lordship will announce to the council and assembly, his Majesty's entire dis-* position to concur with them in any measures which they may think best adapted for ensuring a calm and comprehensive survey of these subjects in all their bearings. It will then remain with the two houses to frame such laws as may be necessary to render the provincial code more uniform, and belter adapted to the actual condition of society in Canada. To any laws prepared for that most important purpose, and calculated to advance it, his Majesty's assent will be given with the utmost satisfaction. It is possible liiat a work of this nature would be best executed by commissioners, to be specially desig- nated for the purpose: should such be your lordship's opinion, you will suggest that mode of proceeding to both houses of the provincial legislature, who, I am convinced, would willingly incur whatever ex- pense maybe inseparable from such an undertaking, unless they should themselves be able to originate any plan of inquiry and proceeding, at once equally offectivc and economical. ** Eighthly. — The administration of justice is said to have become ineflicient and unnecessarily ex- pensive. '« As the provincial tribunals derive their present constitution from local statute, and not from any exercise of his Majesty's prerogative, it is not with- in the power of the King to improve the mode of administering the law, or to diminish the costs of litigation. Your lordship will, however, assure the viens'*.^^ i if. ;1 ti; 1 ^1 I J i ,» k 1,1 iWt'.l !J n lUO THE nuonLEs w house of assembly, that his Majesty is not only ready, but most desirous, to co-operate with them in any improvements of the judicial system which the wisdom and experience of the two houses may suggest. Your lordship will immediately assent to any bills which may be passed for that purpose, excepting in the highly improbable event of their being found open to some apparently conclusive objection; even in that case, however, you will reserve any bills for improving the administration of the law for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure. ♦* Ninthly. — The address then stales, that the con- fusion and uncertainty of which the House complain, jjas been greatly increased by enactments aflccting real property in the colony made in the Parliament of the United Kingdom since the establishment of the provincial legislature, without those interested having even had an opportunity of being heard; and particularly by a recent decision on one of the said enactments in the provincial court of ap- peals. ,' " His Majesty's Government can have no con- troversy with the house of assembly upon this sub- ject. The house cannot state in stronger terms, than they arc disposed to acknowledge, the fitness of leaving to the legislature of Lower Canada ex- clusively the enactment of every law which may be required respecting real property within that province. It cannot be denied, that at a former period a difTerent opinion was entertained by the British government; and that the statute-book of this kingdom contains various regulations on the or OAITADA. 101 subject of lands in Lower Canada, which might, perhaps, have been moro conveniently enacted in the province itself: I apprehend, however, that this interference of Parliament was never invoked, ex- cept on the pressure of some supposed necessity; and that there never was a period in which such acts were introduced by the ministers of the crown without reluctance. "To a certain extent, the statute I Will. IV., c. '20, which was passed at the instance of his Ma- jesty's Government in the last session of Parlia- ment, has anticipated the complaint to which I am now referring, and has prevented its recurrence, by authorizing the local legislature to regulate whatever relates to the incidents of soccage tenure in the province, williout reference to any real or supposed repugnancy of any such regulations to the law of England. If there is any other part of the British statute law, bearing upon this topic, to which the council and assembly shall object, his Majesty's Government will be prepared to recom- mend Jo Parliament that it should be repealed." " Tenthly. — It is stated that several of the judges of the courts in the province have long been engnged in, and have even taken a public part in the political aflairs and differences of the province, at the same time holding offices during pleasure, and situations incompatible with the due discharge of the judicial functions. " Under this head again, it is very gratifying to the ministers of the crown to find, that they had, in a great measure, obviated by anticipation the com- plaint of the house of assembly. In the despatch which I addressed to your lordship, on the 8th m 103 THE BUBBLES February, No. 22, every arrangement was made which could be either suggested or carried into ef- fect by his Majesty's authority, for removing the judges of the province from all connexion with its political affairs, and for rendering them indepen- dent at once of the authority of the Crown, and the control of the other branches of the legislature; thus placing them exactly in the same position as that of the judges of the supreme courts at West- minster. " The judges themselves have, it appears, with laudable promptitude, concurred in giving effect to these recommendations by discontinuing their at- tendance at the executive council. Nothing there- fore, in fact, remains for terminating all discussions upon this subject, but that the house of assembly should make such a permanent provision for the judges as, without exceeding a just remuneration, may be adequate to their independent maintenance in that rank of life which belongs to the dignity of their station. • " I am not aware that any judge in Lower Ca- nada holds any office, excepting that of executive counsellor, during the pleasure of the Crown, or which is in any respect incompatible with the due discharge of his official functions; if any such case exists, your lordship will have the goodness imme- diately to report to me all the circumstances by which it may be attended, in order that the neces- sary instructions on the subject may be given. In the mean time I may state, without reserve, that no judge can be permitted to retain any office cor- responding with the description thus given by the house of assembly, in combination with that inde- OF CANADA. 103 pendent position on the bench to which I have re- ferred. " Eleventhly. — The address proceeds to state that, during a long series of years, executive and judici- ary offices have been bestowed almost exclusively upon one class of subjects in the province, and espe- cially upon those least connected by property, or otherwise, with its permanent inhabitants, or who have shown themselves the most averse to the rights, liberties, and interests of the people. It is added, that several of these persons avail themselves of the means afforded by their situations to prevent the constitutional and harmonious co-operation of the government and the house of assembly, and to ex- cite ill feeling and discord between them, while they are remiss in their different situations to forward the public business. " I quote thus largely the language of the address, because I am desirous to meet every part of it in the most direct manner, as well as in the most con- ciliatory spirit. It is not from any want of that spirit that I recommend you to suggest for the con- sideration of the house of assembly, how far it is possible that his Majesty should clearly understand, or effectually redress a grievance which is brought under his notice in terms thus indefinite. If any pub- lic oflScers can be named who are guilty of such an abuse of their powers, and of such remissness in their duties as are implied in the preceding quota- tion, his Majesty would not be slow to vindicate the public interest by removing any such persons from his service. If it can be shown that the patronage of the crown has been exercised upon any narrow and exclusive maxims, they cannot be too entirely i' n !H k i 104 THE BUBBLES disavowed and abandoned, especially if it be true that the permanent inhabitants of the colony do not enjoy a full participation in all public employments, the house of assembly may be assured that his Ma- jesty can have no desire that any such invidious distinctions should be systematically maintained. Beyond this general statement it is not in my power to advance. I am entirely ignorant of the specific cases to which the general expressions of the assem- bly point. I can only state, that since his Majesty was pleased to intrust to myself the seals of this de- partment, no opportunity has occurred for exer- cising the patronage of the crown in Lower Cana- da, to which it is possible that the assembly can refer, nor have my inquiries brought to light any particular case of a more remote date to which their language would appear to be applicable. " Twelfthly. — The next subject of complaint is developed in the following words: — "That there exists no sufficient responsibility on the part of the persons holding these situations, nor any adequate accountability amongst those of them intrusted with public money ; the consequence of which has been the misapplication of large sums of public money, and of the money of individuals by defaulters, with whom deposites were made under legal authority, hitherto without reimbursement or redress havinsr been obtained, notwithstanding the humble repre- sentations of your petitioners." It would be impossible, without a violation of truth, to deny that at a period not very remote heavy losses were sustained both by the public and by individuals, from the want of a proper system of passing and auditing their accounts. I find, how- OF CANADA. 105 over, that in his despatch of the 29th September, Sir George Murray adverted to this subject in terms to which I find it difficult to make any useful addition. His words are as follow : — " The complaints which have reached this office respecting an adequate so curity given by the receiver-general and by the sheriffs, for the due application of public money in iheir hands, have not escaped the very serious at- Icntion of the ministers of the crown; the most effectual security against abuses of this nature would be to prevent the accumulation of balances in the hands of public accountants, by obliging them to exhibit their accounts to some competent author- ity at short intervals, and immediately to pay over the ascertained balance. The proof of having punctually performed this duty should be made the indispensable condition of receiving their salaries, and of their continuance office. " In the colony of New South Wales a regulation of this nature has been established under his Ma- jesty's instructions to the governor of that settlement, and has been productive of great public convenience. If a similar practice were introduced in Lower Ca- nada for the regulation of the office of receiver-ge- neral, and for that of sheriff, the only apparent dif- ficulty would be to find a safe place of deposite for their balances. I am, however, authorized to slate, that the lords' commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury will hold themselves responsible to the province for any sums which the receiver-general or sheriff may pay over to the commissary-general. Your excellency will, therefore, propose to the le- gislative council and assembly the enactment of a law binding these officers to render an account of 10 . H'-H. '^^''m I M t.rm 106 THE BUBBLES their receipts at short intervals, and to'pay over tlie balances in their hands to the commissary-general, upon condition that that officer should be bound, on demand, to deliver a bill on his Majesty's Treasury lor the amount of his receipts. I trust that, in this proposal, the legislature will find a proof of the ear- nest desire of his Majesty's government to provide, as far as may be practicable, an eflcctual remedy ibr every case of real grievance. " If the preceding instructions have proved in- adequate to the redress of the inconvenience to which they refer, I can assure your lordship of the cordial concurrence of his Majesty's government in any more efleclive measures which may be recom- mended for that purpose, either by yourself or by either of the houses of the provincial legislature. " The losses which the province sustained by the default of the late Mr. Caldwell is a subject which his Majesty's Government contemplate with the deepest regret — a feeling enhanced by the painful conviction of their inability to alFord to the pro- vincial revenues any adequate compensation for so serious an injury ; what is in their power they have gladly done by the instruction conveyed to your lordship in the early part of this despatch, to place at the disposal of the legislature, for general pur- poses, the sum of £7,154. 15s. 4^cl., recovered from Mr. Caldwell's property. The assembly will, 1 trust, accept this as a proof of the earnest desire of his Majesty's Government to consult to the utmost of their ability the. pecuniary interests of the pro- vince. " Thirteenthly. The address proceeds to stale that * the evils of this state of things have been , n OF CANADA. 107 greatly aggravated by enactments made in the Par- liament of the United Kingdom, without even the knowledge of the people of this colony, which en- actments have rendered temporary duties imposed by the provincial legislature permanent, leaving in the hands of public officers, over whom the assem- bly has no effectual control, large sums of money arising within this province, which are applied by persons subject to no sufficient accountabiUty." " 1 understand this complaint to refer to the 28lh clause of the Stat. S Geo. IV., c. 119. The duties mentioned in that enactment are continued until some act for repealing or altering them shall be passed by the legislative council and assembly of Lower Canada, and until a copy of any such new act siiall have been transmitted to the governor of Upper Canada, and ^hall have been laid before both houses of Parliament, and assented to by his Ma- jesty. The motive for this enactment is explained in the preamble, to have been the necessity of ob- viating the evils experienced in the Upper Province from the exercise of an exclusive control by the legislature of Lower Canada over imports and ex- ports at the port of Quebec. I acknowledge wutli- out reserve, that nothing but the necessity of me- diating between the two provinces would have justified such an interference by Parliament; and if any adequate security can be devised against the recurrence of similar difficulties, the enactment ought to be repealed. The peculiar geographical position of Upper Canada, enjoying no access to the sea, except through a province wholly independent on itself, on the one hand, or through a foreign state on the other, was supposed in the year 1822 to !, 1 III 108 THE BUBBLES have created the necessity for enacting so peculiar a law for its protection. I should be much gratified to learn, that no such necessity exists at present, or can be reasonably anticipated hereafter ; for upon sufficient evidence of that fact, his Majesty's Go- vernment would at once recommend to Parliament the repeal of that part of the statute to which the address of the house of assembly refers. The mi- nisters of the Crown would even be satisfied to pro- pose to Parliament the repeal of the enactment in i]uestion, upon proof that the legislature of the Upper Province deem such protection superfluous ; perhaps it may be found practicable to arrange this matter by communications between the legislatures of the two provinces. The ministers of the Crown arc prepared to co-operate to the fullest extent in any measure which the two legislatures shall concur in recommending for the amendment or repeal of the >Statute 3 Geo. IV., c. 119, s. 2'8. •* Fourteenthly. — The selection of the legislative counsellors and the constitution of that bodv, whicii forms the last subject of complaint in the address, 1 shall not notice in this place, any farther than to say, that it will form the matter of a separate com- munication, since the topic is too extensive and im- j)ortant to be conveniently embraced in my present despatch. "The preceding review of the questions brought by the house of assembly, appears to me entirely to justify the expectations which I have expressed at the commencement of this despatch, of a speedy, effectual, and amicable termination of the protracted discussions of several years. It would be injurious to the house of assembly to attribute to them any OF CAXADA. 109 such captious spirit as would keep alive a contest upon a few minor and insignificant details, after the statement I have made of the general accord- ance between the views of his Majesty's govern- ment and their own, upon so many important ques- tions of Canadian policy. Little indeed remains for debate, and that little will, I am convinced, be discussed with feelings of mutual kindness and good will, and with an earnest desire to strengthen the bonds of union already subsisting between the two countries. His Majesty will esteem it as amongst the most enviable distinctions of his reign, to have contributed to so great and desirable a result. " Vour lordship will take the earliest opportunity of transmitting to the house of assembly a copy of this despatch. *' I have, &c. " (Signed) Goderich." ;' ! }'> \iPlAi UM 10* !:;;?; iiir <-^*^!t. 110 THE DUBRLE9 LETTER VII. The time had now arrived (1832) when every grievance, so far as the remedy lay with the go- vernment, had been removed, according to the re- commendations of the committee. Whatever re- quired the co-operation of the assembly themselves, remained untouched. They had asked what they did not require, and hoped would not be granted, so that the odium of refusal might serve as a pretext for farther agitation. Several of the changes solicited would have weakened their influence, and they ])referred to suflfer things to remain as they were. There now existed no impediment to the public tranquiUity; and, if their intentions had been honest, wc should have heard no more of Canadian discon- tent. Several men of character and standing in the t'olony, who had hitherto acted with the French faction, now separated themselves from them, de- claring that they had obtained all, and even more than they had sought, and that they had now no- thing farther to ask but to enjoy in tranquillity the fruits of their labour. When they found there was no corresponding feeling in the breasts of their col- leagues, and that these concessions were merely used as the groundwork of farther changes, they became alarmed, and for the first time were made sensible of what the public had always known with unfeigned sorrow, that they had been all along the dupes of their own liberal notions and the artifices Il •.•• 1 or CANADA. Ill of others. They had now full time to reflect upon the mischief they had done and their own inability to make reparation, and have added another illus- tration to the numbers we already have on record of how much easier it is to open the flood-gates of popular prejudice and passion, than to close them against the force of the current. They arc now likely to become the victims of their own folly, and to be overwhelmed in the ruins caused by the inun- dation to which they have unfortunately contributed, by cutting away the embankments. It is to be hoped that the lesson will not be lost upon England ; and it may, perhaps, afford these unhappy men some consolation if the safety of others is confirmed by the contemplation of the fatal effects of their folly. The request of Lord Aylmer, that they would bring forward all their demands, and, if they had any farther ones, to add them to their catalogue, or that he should feel himself entitled to report there were none others, was received with surprise, but in si- lence, and he very fairly concluded that they had exhausted their budget. This was the natural in- ference, and it appears that parliament flattered it- self also that the whole subject was now fully be- fore them. It is true the tone and temper of the house of assembly were not materially altered, and that the next four years were consumed in local disputes, during which no appicjjriation was made for the public service; but all this was charitably supposed to be the effect of previous excitement, and it was thought not unnatural that some time should elapse before their angry feelings could wholly subside. But what was their astonishment, 112 THE BUBBLES after their declining the unprecedented request of the governor to exhibit any farther complaints if they had any, to find that, in 1834, they were pre- pared to come forward with ninety-two resolutions of fresli grievance! This extraordinary step re- vived the hopes of every loyalist throughout the adjoining colonies. Surely, they said, this last un- grateful, unprovoked attempt will open the eyes of the English nation to the ulterior views of Papineau and his party ! It takes much provocation to arouse the British lion; but, surely, this last thrust will be more than he can bear! lie will make his voice to be iieard across the waters and sedition will flv terrified to its cover. But, alas, they were mis- taken. Noble and spirited as the animal once was, he is now old and infirm — a timid people have filed his tectli, and shortened his claws, and stupefied him with drugs, and his natural pride disdains exhibit an unsuccessful imbecility. It was received with a meekness and mildness that filled every body that had known him in former years with astonish- ment and pity; they could not recognise, in the timid and crouching creature before them, the same animal whose indomitable courage and muscular strength had formerly conquered these same Canadians, even when supported by all the resources of France, who now, single-handed and alone, defied him to combat. But this is too painful a picture to dwell upon. This singular document is well worthy of your perusal; its want of intrinsic weight is more than compensated by its prolixity. The astounding num- ber of ninety-two resolutions was well calculated to delude strangers, and to induce them to think that or CANADA. 113 the evils under which they laboured were almost too many for enumeration. As imagination is always more fertile than truth, they very wisely resorted to the former, and were thus enabled to supply them- selves with any charge they required. It would doubtless have appeared singular to the sympathizers of England, if the aggregate had amounted to so re- markable a number as one hundred: it would have struck them as a suspicious coincidence that they should have exactly reached " a round number," and filled a well known measure, and therefore, with an acutencss peculiar to people accustomed to fabricate talcs of fictitious distress, they wisely stopped at ninety-two. But it must not be supposed that even Canadian exaggeration could find a grievance for each number. Some were merely declamatory, and others personal; some complimented persons on this side of the water, whose politics they thought re- sembled their own, and others expressed or implied a censure against obnoxious persons, while not a few were mere repetitions of what had been previously said. Such a state paper, drawn up on such an oc- casion by the most eminent men in the house for the perusal of such a body of men as the members of the imperial parliament, is of itself a proof how little fit- ted the Canadians are for constitutional gpvernment. i 'I ■' ^ 'h ■\Xm 1. Resolved, That His Majesty's loyal subjects, t!io people of this Province of Lower Canada, liave shown the strongest attaciunent to the British Empire, of wliich they are a portion : that they have repeatedly defended it with courage in time of war; that at the time which preceded the independence of the late British Colonies on this continent, they resisted the ap- peal made to them by those colonies to join their confedera- tion. 114 THE IlUllULES '2. Resolved, Tliat the people of this province have at all times mnnifcstcd tlicir coulklenco in His Majesty's CJovcrn* mcnt, even iimlor circnniHtanccs of the greatest difficulty, and wlicn tlio {jovcrnincnt of the province has been administered by men who trampled under foot flic rights and feelings dear* c&t to Jiritiiiili siibjix'ts; and tlint these sentiments of the people of tliiH province roinain unchnn;,'ed. J}. Resolved, 'I'Imt tlio pooplo of this Province have always tiliown tiiomsclvcs ready to welcome and receive as brethren tliosc of their follow subjects who, having quitted the United Kingdom or its dependencies, liuvo cliosen this province as their home, and liavo earnestly endeavoured (as far as on them depended) to afford every facility to iheir participating in the political advantages, and in the means of rendering their in- dutilry available, which the people of this province enjoy; and to remove for them the diflioultics arising from the vicious system adopted by those who have administered tho govern- ment of tho province, with regard to those portions of tho country in which tho new-comers have generally chosen to tjelfle. 4. Resolved, That this House, as representing tho people of this province, has shown an earnest zeal to advance the gene- ral prosperity of tho country, by securing the peace and con- tent of all classes of its inhabitanfL', without any distinction of origin or creed, and upon the solid and durable basis of unity of interest, and equal confidence in the protection of the mo- ther country. 5. Resolved, That this House has seized every occasion to adopt, and firmly to establish by law in this province, not only the constitutional and parliamentary law of England, which is necessary to carry the Government into operation, but all such parts of tho public law of the United Kingdom as have ap- peared to this house adapted to promote the welfare ond safety of the people, and to be conformable to their wishes and their wants; and that this hou£0 has, in like manner, wisely endea- voured so to regulate its proceedings as to render them, as closely as the circumstances of this colony permit, analogous to the practice of the House of Commons of the United King- dom. OP CANADA. 115 i\. Rcsolvctl, That in tlio year l'*'V, the prroat mnjority ot' tho people of this province coinplainod, in potitions Bignetl by H7,0(K) persons, of serious nnd nnnif^rnus nl/tit-rs w hjcli thon prevailed, many of which had then existed fur a <^rcui number of years, and of which the greater '^rt still (i%ht, without cor- rection or nuliyation. 7. Resolved, That tho compl'iinta fif'irosnid, nnd tho {,'rievanccB whicli gave rise to tlieni, boin^r siii)ri)ittcd to tho considorotion of the Parliiunont of the United Kin;,f(lom, occa- sioned tho appointment of a coininittoo of tiio House of Coni» mons, of which tho Ilonourahio Edward (JooHVoy Stanley, now his Mojesty'a principal secretary of htate for the colonial de- partment, ond several others, wiio nro now mcinberH of his Majesty's government, formed pnrt; and that, alK^r a careful investigation and duo deliberation, tlio said committee, on the IHih of July, lHii8, came to tho following very just conclu- riions : 1st. •' That the embarrassments and discontents that had long prevailed in the Canadas, had arisen from serious defects in the system of laws, and the constitutions esta- blished in tiiose colonies. 2dly. " That these embarrassments were in a great measure to be attributed to the manner in which the ex- isting system had been ndministerod. ydly. " That they had a complete conviction that nei- ther the suggestions which they had made, nor any other improvements in the laws and constitutions of the Cana- dos, will be attended with the desired effect, unless an impartial, conciliating, and constitutional system of go- vernment were observed in these royal and important co- lonies." 8. Resolved, That since the period oforesaid, the constitu- tion of this province, with its serious defects, has continued to be administered in a manner calculated to multiply the embar- rassments and discontents which have long prevailed ; and that the recommendations of the Committee of the House of Com- mons have not been followed by efTcctive measures of a nature to produce the desired efiect !' 1^' j> 'I' I i . . ! II I IP P ifr, 1-4 ■3 116 THE BUBBLES ii i 9. Resolved, That the most serious defect in the Constitu- tional Act — its radical fault — tlie most active principle of evil and discontent in the province; the most powerful and most frequent cause of abuses of power; of infractions of the lav/s; of the waste of the public revenue and property, accompanied by impunity to the governing party, and the oppression and consequent resentment of the governed, is that injudicious enactment, the fatal results of which were foretold by the Ho- nourable Ciiarles James Fox at the time of its adoption, whicli invests the Crown with that exorbitant powc ', (incompatible with any government duly balanced and founded on law and justice, and not on force and coercion) of selecting and com- posing without any rule or limitation, or any predetermined qualification, an entire branch of the legislature, supposed from the nature of its attributions to be independent, but inevitably the servile tool of the authority which creates, composes, and decomposes it, and can on any day modify it to suit the inte- rests or the passions of the moment. 10. Resolved, Thst with the permission of a power so un- limited, the abuse of it is inseparably connected; and that it has always been so exercised in the selection of the Members of the Legislative Council of this province, as to favour the spirit of monopoly and despotism in the executive, judicial, and administrative departments of government, and never in favour of the public interests. 11. Resolved, That the effectual remedy for this evil was judiciously foreseen and pointed out by the Committee of the House of Commons, who asked John Neilson, Esquire, (one of the agents who had carried to England the petition of the 87,000 inhabitants of Lower Canada,) whether he had turned in his mind any plan by which he conceived the Legislative Council might be better composed in Lower Canada; whether he thought it possible that the said body could command the confidence and respect of the people, or go in harmony with the house of assembly, unless the principle of election were introduced into its corinosition in some manner or other; and also, whether he thought that the colony could have any se- curity that the legislative council would be properly and inde- pendently composed, unless the principle of election were in- OF CANADA. 117 troduced into it in some manner or other; and received from the said John Neilson answers, in which (among other reflec- tions) he said in substance, that there were two modes in which the composition of the legislative council might be bet- tered ; the one by appointing men who were independent of the executive, (but that to judge from experience there would be no security that this would be done,) and that if this mode were found impracticable, the other would be to render the legislative council elective. 12. Resolved, That, judging from experience, this house likewise believes there would be no security in the first men- tioned mode, the course of events having but too amply proved what was then foreseen; and that this house approves all the inferences drawn by the said John Neilson from experience and facts; but that with regard to his suggestion that a class of electors of a higher qualification should be established, or a qualification in property fixed for those persons who might sit in the council, this house have, in their address to his Most Gracious Majesty, dated the 20th of March, 1833, de- clared in what manner this principle could, in their opinion, be rendered tolerable in Canada, by restraining it within cer- tain bounds, which should in no case be passed. 13. Resolved, That even in defining bounds of this nature, and requiring the possession of real property as a condition of eligibility to a legislative council, chosen by the people, which most wisely and happily lias not been made a condition of eli- gibility to the house of assembly, this house seems rather to have sought to avoid shocking received opinions in Europe, where custom and the law have given so many artificial pri- vileges and advantages to birth and rank and fortune, than to consult the opinions generally received in America, where the influence of birth is nothing, and where, notwithstanding the importance which fortune must always naturally confer, the artificial introduction of great political privileges in favour of the possessors of large property, could not long resist the pre- ference given at free elections to virtue, talents, and informa- tion, which fortune does not exclude but can never purchase, and which may be the portion of honest, contented, and devoted 11 It I. 118 THE BUBBLES I \ \ men, whom the people ought to have the power of calling and consecrating to the public service, in preference to richer men, of whom they may think less highly. 14. Resolved, That this house is no wise disposed to admit the excellence of the present constitution of Canada, although his Majesty's secretary of state for the colonies has unseason- ably and erroneously asserted, that it has conferred on the two Canadas the institutions of Great Britain ; nor to reject the principle of extending the system of frequent elections much farther than it is at present carried ; and this system ought especially to be extended to the legislative council, although it may be considered by the colonial secretary incompatible with the British government, which he calls a monarchical go- vernment, or too analogous to the institutions which the seve- ral states, composing the industrious, moral, and prosperous confederation of the United States of America, have adopted for themselves. 15. Resolved, That in a despatch of which the date is un- known, and of which a part only was communicated to this house by the governor-in-chief on tlie 14th of January, 1834, his Majesty's secretary of state for the Colonial Department (this house having no certain knowledge whether the said despatch is from the present colonial secretary or from his predecessor) says, that an examination of the composition of the legislative council at that period (namely, at the time when its composition was so justly censured by a Committee of the House of Commons) and at the present, will sufficiently show in what spirit his Majesty's Government has endeavoured to carry the wishes of Parliament into effect. 16. Resolved, That this House receives with gratitude this assurance of the just and benevolent intentions, with which, in the performance of their duty, his Majesty's ministers have endeavoured to give effect to the wishes of parliament. 17. Resolved, That unhappily it was left to the principal agent of his Majesty's Government in this province to carry the wishes of the Imperial Parliament into effect; but that he has destroyed the hope which his Majesty's faithful subjects had conceived of seeing the legislative council reformed and ameliorated, and has confirmed them in the opinion that the <0F OAITADA. 119 only possible mode of giving to that body the weight and re* spectability which it ought to possess, is to introduce into it the principle Selection. 18. Resolved, That the legislative council, strengthened by a majority inimical to the rights of this house and of the peo- pie whom it represents, has received new and more powerful means than it before possessed of perpetuating and of render- ing more offensive and more hurtful to the country the system of abuses of which the people of this province have up to thi? -day ineffectually complained, and which up to this day, parlia- ment and his Majesty's goverument in England have ineffec- tually pought to correct. 19. Resolved, That since its pretended reform the legisla- tive council has, in a manner more calculated to alarm the inhabitants of this province, and more particularly in its Ad- dress to his Majesty of the 1st of April, 1833, renewed its pretension of being specially appointed to protect one class of his Majesty's subjects in this province, as supposing them to have interests which could not be sufficiently represented in the assembly, seven-eighths of the members of which are by the said council most erroneously stated to be of French origin and speak the French language : that this pretension is a violation of the constitution, and is of a nature to excite and perpetuate among the several classes of the inhabitants of this province mutual distrust and national distinctions and animosities, and to give one portion of the people an unjust and factious supe- riority over the other, and the hope of domination and undue preference. 20. Resolved, That by such claim the legislative council, afler a reform which was held up as one adapted to unite it more closely with the interests of the colony in conformity with the wishes of parliament, calls down as one of its first acts, the prejudices and severity of his Majesty's Government upon the people of this province and upon the representative branch of the legislature thereof, and that by this conduct the legislative council has destroyed amongst the people all hope which was left them of seeing the said council, so long as it fihall remain constituted as it now is, act in harmony with the house of assembly. » ttv. 120 THE! BUBBLES 11 * 21. Resolved, that the legislative council of this province has never been any thing else but an impotent skreen between the governor and the people, which by enabling the one to maintain a conflict with the others has served to perpetuate a system of discord and contention ; that it has unceasingly act- ed with avowed hostility to the sentiments of the people as constitutionally expressed by the house of assembly; that it is not right under the name of a legislative council to impose an aristocracy on a country which contains no natural materials for the composition of such a body; that the parliament of the United Kingdom in granting to his Majesty's Canadian sub- jects the power of revising the constitution under which they hold their dearest rights, would adopt a liberal policy, free from all consideration of former interests and of existing pre- judices; and that by this measure, equally consistent with a wise and sound policy, and with the most liberal and extended views, the parliament of the United Kingdom would enter into a noble rivalry with the United States of America, would prevent his Majesty's subjects from seeing any thing to envy there; and would preserve a friendly intercourse between Great Britain and this province, as her colony so long as the tie between us shall continue, and as her ally whenever the course of events may change our relative position. 22. Resolved, That this house so much the more confiden- tially emits the opinions expressed in the preceding resolution, because, if any faith is to be placed in the published reports, they were at no distant period emitted with other remarks in the same spirit, in the commons house of the United Kingdom, by the Right Honourable Edward Geoffrey Stanley, now his Majesty's principal secretary of state for the Colonial depart- ment, and by several other enlightened and distinguished mem- bers, some of whom are among the number of his Majesty's present ministers; and because the conduct of the legislative council since its pretended reform, demonstrates that the said opinions are in no wise rendered less applicable or less correct by its present composition. 23. Resolved, That the legislative council has at the pre- sent time less community of interest with the province than at any former period ; that its preaint composition, instead of or CANADA. 121 being calculated to change the character of the body, to put an end to complaints, and to bring about that co-operation of the two houses of the legislature which is so necessary to the welfare of the country, is such as to destroy all hope that the said council will adopt the opinions and sentiments of the peo- ple of this province, and of this house with regard to the in- alienable right of the latter to the full and entire control of the whole revenue raised in the province, with regard to the necessity under which this house has found itself (for the pur- pose of effecting the reformation which it has so long and so vainly demanded of existing abuses) to provide for the expenses of the civil government by annual appropriations only, as well with regard to a variety of other questions of public interest, concerning which the executive government, and the legisla- tive council which it has selected and created, differ diametri- cally from the people of this province and from this house. 24. Resolved, Tiiat such of the recently appointed counsel- lors as were taken from the majority of the assembly, and had entertained the hope that a sufHcient number of independent men, holding opinions in unison with those of the majority of the people and of their representatives, would be associated with them, must now feci that they are overwhelmed by a ma- jority hostile to the country, and composed of men who have irretrievably lost tlie public confidence, by showing tliemselves the blind and passionate partisans of all abuses of power, by encouraging all the acts of violence committed under the ad- ministration of Lord Dalhuusic, by having on all occasions out- raged the representatives of the people of the country; of men, unknown in the country until within a few years, without land- ed property or having very little, most of whom have never been returned to the assembly, (some of them even having been refused by the people,) and who have never given any proofs of their fitness for performing the functions of legislators, but merely of their hatred to the country; and who, by reason of their community of sentiment with him, have found them- selves, by the partiality of the governor-in-chief, suddenly raised to a station in which they have the power of exerting during life, an influence over the legislation and over the fate 11* I.! . i i . , l\ '.'. i 122 THE BUBBLES of this province, the laws and institutions of which have ever been the objects of their dislike. 25. Resolved, That in manifest violation of the constitution, there are among the persons last mentioned several who were born citizens of the United States, or arc natives of other fo- reign countries, and who at the time of their appointment had not been naturalized by Acts of the British Parliament; that the residence of one of these persons (Horatio Gates) in this country during the lost war with the United States was only tolerated; he refused to take up arms for the defence of the country in which he remained merely for the sake of lucre; and aflcr these previous facts, took his seat in the legislative council on the 16th March, 1833 ; and flflcen days afterwards, to wit, on the 1st April, voted for the address before-mentioned, censuring those who during the last war were under arms on the frontiers to repulse the attacks of the American armies and of the fellow-citizens of the said Horatio Gates: that another (James Baxter) was resident during the said late war within the United States, and was bound by the laws of the country of his birth, under certain circumstances, forcibly to invade this province, to pursue, destroy, and capture, if possible, his Majesty's armies, and such of his Canadian subjects as were in arms upon the frontiers to repulse the attacks of the Ame- rican armies, and of the said James Baxter, who (being at the said time but slightly qualified as far as property is concerned) became, by the nomination of the governor-in-chief, a legisla- tor for life in Lower Canada, on the 22d of March, 1833 ; and eight days afterwards, on the Ist of April aforesaid, voted that very address which contained the calumnious and insulting ac- cusation which called for the expression of his Majesty's just regret, "that any word had been introduced which should have the appearance of ascribing to a class of his subjects of one origin, views at variance with the allegiance which they owe to his Majesty." 26. Resolved, That it was in the power of the present go- vernor-in-chief, more than in that of any of his predecessors, (by reason of the latitude allowed him as to the number and the selection of the persons whom he might nominate to be members of the legislative ccurcil,) to allay, for a time at Mi OF CANADA. 133 least, the intestine divisions which rend this colony, and to ad- vance some steps towards the accomplishment of the wishes of Parliament, by inducing a community of interest between the said council and the people, and by giving the former a more independent character by judicious nominations. 27. Resolved, That although sixteen persons have been no- minated in less than two years by the present governor to be members of the said council, (a number greater than that af- forded by any period of ten years under any other administra- tion,) and notwithstanding the wishes of Parliament, and the instructions given by his Majesty's government for the removal of the grievances of which the people had complained, the same malign influence which has been exerted to perpetuate in the country a system of irresponsibility in favour of public functionaries, has prevailed to such an extent as to render the majority of the legislative council more inimical to the coun- try than at any former period; and that this fact confirms with irresistible force the justice of the censure passed by the com- mittee of the house of commons on the constitution of the le- gislative council as it had theretofore existed, and the correct- ness of the opinion of those members of the said committee who thought that the said body could never command the re- spect of the people, nor be in harmony with the house of as- sembly, unless the principle of election was introduced into it. 28. Resolved, That even if the present governor-in-chief had, by making a most judicious selection, succeeded in qui- eting the alarm and allaying for a time the profound discon- tent which then prevailed, that form of government would not be less essentially vicious which makes the happiness or mise- ry of a country depend on an executive over which the people of that country have no influence, and which has no permanent interest in the country, or in common with its inhabitants; and that the extension of the elective principle is the only measure which appears to this house to afford any prospect of equal and sufficient protection in future to all the inhabitants of the pro- vince without distinction. 29. Resolved, That the accusations preferred against the house of assembly by the legislative council, as re-composed by the present governor-in-chief, would be criminal and sedi- 1. ■ ' i* 1 ',> I: » I j\ IN ■fif ■ I 124 THE BUBBLES tious, if their very nature did not render them harmless, since they go to assert, that if in its liberality and justice the par- liament of the United Kingdom had granted the earnest prayer of this house in behalf of the province (and which this house at this solemn moment, after weighing the despatches of the secretary of state for the colonial department, and on the eve of a general election, now repeats and renews,) that the con- stitution of the legislative council may be altered by rendering it elective, the result of this act of justice and benevolence would have been to inundate the country with blood. 30. Resolved, That by the said address to his Majesty, dated the 1st of April last, the legislative council charges this house with having calumniously accused the King's representative of partiality and injustice in the exercise of the powers of his office, and with deliberately calumniating his Majesty's officers, both civil and military, as a faction Induced by interest alone to contend for the support of a government inimical to the rights and opposed to the wishes of the people : with reference to which this house declares that tlie accusations preferred by it have never been calumnious, but are true and well founded, aud that a faithful picture of the executive government of this province in all its parts is drawn by the legislative council in this passage of its address. 31. Resolved, That if, as this house is fond of believing hi:< Majesty's government in England docs not wish systematically to nourish civil discord in this colony, the contradictory alle- gations thus made by the two houses make it imperative on it to become better acquainted with the state of the province than it now appears to be, if we judge from its long tolerance of the abuses which its agents commit with impunity; that it ought not to trust to the self-praise of those who have the management of the affiairs of a colony, passing according to them into a state of anarchy ; that it ought to be convinced that if its protection of public functionaries, accused by a competent authority (that is to say by this house, in the name of the peo- ple,) could for a time, by force and intimidation, aggravate, in favour of those functionaries and against the rights and inte- rests of the people, the system of insult and oppression which they impatiently bear, the result must be to weaken our con* OF OAITADA. 135 fidence in, and our attachment to his Majesty's government, and to give deep root to the discontent and insurmountable disgust which have been excited by administrations deplorably vicious, and which are now fxcited by the majority of the public functionaries of the colony, combined as a faction, and induced by interest alone to contend for the support of a cor- rupt government, inimical to the rights and opposed to the wishes of the people. 32. Resolved, That in addition to its wicked and calum- nious address of the Ist April, 1833, the legislative council, as recomposed by the present governor-in-chief, h'as proved how little community of interest it has with the colony, by the fact that out of sixty-four bills which were sent up to it, twenty- eight were rejected by it, or amended in a manner contrary to their spirit and essence; that the same unanimity which had attended the passing of the greater part of these bills in the assembly, accompanied their rejection by the legislative council, and that an opposition so violent shows clearly that the provincial executive and the council of its choice, in league together against the representative body, do not, or will not, consider it as the faithful interpreter and the equitable judge of the wants and wishes of the people, nor as fit to propose laws conformable to the public will ; and that under such cir- cumstances it would have been the duty of the head of the ex- ecutive to appeal to the people, by dissolving the provincial parliament, had there been any analogy between the institutions of Qreat Britain and those of this province. 33. Resolved, That the legislative council, as recomposed by the present governor-in-chief, must be considered as im- bodying the sentiments of the colonial executive government, and that from the moment is was so recomposed the two au- thorities seem to have bound and leagued themselves together for the purpose of proclaiming principles subversive of all har- mony in the province, and of governing and domineering'in a spirit of blind and invidious national antipathy. 34. Resolved, That the address voted unanimously on the 1st April, 1833, by the legislative council, as recomposed by the present governor in chief, was concurred in by the honour- able the chief justice of the province, Jonathan Sewell, to whom W'i' IK i |i; / If rl U I iS! 'I '■ 120 THE BUBBLES the right honourable Lord Viscount Goderich, in his deapatch, communicated to the house on the 25th November, 1831, re- commended ** a cautious abstinence^* from all proceedings by which he might be involved in any contention of a party nature ; by John Hale, the present receiver-general, who, in violation of the laws, and of the trust reposed in him, and upon illegal warrants issued by the governor, has paid away large sums of the public money, without any regard to the obedience which is always due to the law; by Sir John Caldwell, baronet, the late receivcr*general, a peculator, who has been condemned to pay nearly £100,000 to reimburse a like sum levied upon the people of this province, and grantadby law to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, for the public use of the province, and for the support of his Majesty's government therein, and who has diverted the greater part of the said sum from the purposes to which it was destined, and appropriated it to his private use ; by Mathew Bell, a grantee of the crown, who has been unduly and illegally favoured by the executive, in the least of the forges of St. Maurice, in the grant of largo tracts of waste lands, and in the lease of large tracts of land formerly belonging to the order of Jesuits ; by John Stewart, an exe- cutive counsellor, commissioner of the Jesuits' estates, and the incumbent of other lucrative offices: all of whom are placed by their pecuniary and personal interests, under the influence of the executive; and by the honourable Georp,c MofTatt, Peter M'Gill, John Molson, Horatio Gates, Robert 2 )' cs, and James Baxter, all of whom, as well as those before mentioned, were, with two exceptions, born out of the country, and all of whom, except one, who for a number of years was a member of the assembly, and has extensive landed property, arc but slightly qualified in that respect, and had not been sufficiently engaged in public life to afford a presumption that they were fit to per- form the functions of legislators for life; and by Antoine Gas^ pard Couillard, the only native of the country, of French ori- gin, who stooped to concur in the address, and who also had never been engaged in public life, and is but very moderately qualified with respect to real property, and who, afler his ap- pointment to the council, and before the said 1st of April, ren- dered himself dependent on the executive by soliciting a paltry and subordinate place of profit. ofl OF CANADA. 127 espatch, 831, re- lings by nature ; violation 1 illegal suma of which onct, the ndemned led upon Majesty, ince, and and who purposes s private has been the lease tracts ot formerly , an exe- a, and the re placed influence ratt, Peter ind James led, were, of whom, ler of the it slightly y engaged fit to per- toine Gas- 'rcnch ori- also had wderately ler his ap- April, ren- ig a paltry ^1 35. Resolved, That the said address, voted by seven coun- sellors, under the influence of the present head of the execu- tive, and by five others of his appointment, (one only of the six otiiers who voted it, the Honourable George Mofiatt, having been appointed under his predecessor) is the work of the pre- Hont adininistration of this province, the expression of its sen- timents, the key to its acts, and the proclamation of the ini- quitious and arbitrary principles, which are to form its rule of conduct for the future. 30. Resolved, That the said address is not less injurious to the small number of members of the legislative council who are independent, and attached to the interests and honour of the country, who had been members of the Assembly, and are known as having partaken its opinions and seconded its ef- forts, to obtain fur it the entire control and disposal of the pub- lic revenue; as having approved the wholesome, constitutional, und not, as styled by the council, the daring steps taken by this house of praying by address to his Majesty that the legislative council might be rendered elective; as condemning a scheme for the creation of an e.xtcnsive monopoly of lands in favour of specu- lators residing out of the country; as believing that they could not have been appointed to the council with a view to increase the constitutional weight and efficacy of that body, in which they find themselves opposed to a majority hostile to their prin- ciples and their country ; as believing that the interests and wishes of the people are faithfully represented by their repre- sentatives, and that the connexion between this country and the parent state will be durable in proportion to the direct in- fluence exercised by the people in the enactment of laws adapted to ensure their welfare ; and as being of opinion, that his Majesty's subjects recently settled in this country will share in all the advantages of the free institutions and of the improvements which would be rapidly developed if, by means of the extension of the elective system, the administration were prevented from creating a monopoly of power and profit in fa- vour of the minority who are of one origin, and to the preju- dice of the majority, who are of another, and from buying, cor- rupting, and exciting a portion of this minority in such a man- ner as to give to all discussions of local interest the alarming character of strife and naftional antipathy; and that the inde- ' 128 TUB BUBBLES pendent members of the legiBlative council, indubitably con* vinced of the tendency of that body, and undeceived as to the motives which led to the'r appointment as members of it, now refrain from attending the sittings of the said council, in which they despair of being able to effect any thing for the good of the country. 87. Resolved, That the political world in Europe is at this moment agitated by two great parties, who in different coun* tries appear under the sovoral names of scrviles, royalists, to* ries and conservatives on the one side, and of liberals, coneti* ^utionals, republicans, whigs, reformers, radicals and similar appellations on the other; that the former party is, on this con* tinent, without any weight or influence except what it derives from its European supporters, and from a trifling number of persons who become their dependents for the sake of personal gain, and from others, who from oge or habit cling to opinions which are not partaken by any numerous class; whilo those* cond party overspreads all America. And that the colonial secretary is mistaken if he believes that the exclusion of a few salaried ofl!icers from the legislative council could suffice to make it harmonize with the wants, wishes and opinions of the people, OB long as the colonial governors retain the power of preserving in it a majority of members rendered servile by their antipathy to every liberal idea. 38. Resolved, That this vicious system, which has been carefully maintained, has given to the legislative council a greater character of animosity to the country than it had at any former period, and is as contrary to the wishes of parliament, as that which, in order to resist the wishes of the people of England for the parliamentary reform, should have called into the House of Lords a number of men notorious for their fac- tious and violent opposition to that great measure. 39. Resolved, That the legislative council, representing merely the personal opinions of certain members of a body so strongly accused at a recent period by the people of this pro* vince, and so justly censured by the report of the committee of the House of Commons, is not an authority competent to dc* mand alterations in the constitutional Act of the dlst Geo. 3, c. 31, and that the said act ought not to be and cannot be al- tered, except at such time and in such manner as may be wished OF CA!«ADA. lt>5» 6y the pooplo of this province, whoso scntimonta thia houso is ulono compotont to rnprcsont; that no intcrforonco on the part of tho Britinh Icgislntiiro with tho laws nnd coimtitution of thiH province, which should not be founded on tho wislics of the people, freely expressed either through this house, or in any other constitutional manner, could in nny wIho tend to settle any of tho ditficultics wh -h exist in this pro<'incc, but, on the oontrnry, would only iig ravato thcni and prolong their con- tinuance. 40. Resolved, That this house expects from the justice of the parliament of the United Kingdom, that no measure of the na- ture aforesaid, founded on the false representations of tho legis- lative council nnd of tho members and tools of the colonial ad- ministration, all interested in perpetuating existing abuses, will be adopted to tho prejudice of tho rights, liberties, and welfare of the poopluof this province; but that on tho contrary, the Im- perial Logislatnro will comply with the wishes of the people and of this house, and will provide the most effectual remedy tor all evils present and future, either by rendering the legis- lative council elective, in the manner mentioned in the Address of this houso to his most gracious Maj^siy, of the 20th March, 1833, or by enabling the people to express still more directly their opinions as to the measures to be adopted in that behalf, and with regard to such other moditicalions of the constitution as tho wants of tho people and the interest of his Majesty's go- vernment in tho province may require; and that this house perseveres in tho said Address. 41. Resolved, That his Mojest;, 's secretary of state for the colonial department has acknowledged in his despatches, that it has frequently been admitted that the people of Canada ought to see nothing in the institutions of the neighbouring states which they could regard with envy, and that he has yet to learn that any such feeling now exists among his Majesty's subjects in Canada: to which this house answers, that the neighbouring States have a form of government very fit to pre- vent abuses of power, and very cfTective in repressing them ; that the reverse of this order of things has always prevailed in Canada under the present form of government; that there ex- ists in the neighbouring States a stronger and more general at- tachment to the national inetitutions tlian in any other coun- 13 ,1 : It' I! ' J, I I*' ,t t ! 130 THE BUBBLES try, and that there exists also in those States a guarantee for the progressive advance of their political institutions towards perfection in the revision of the same at short and determinate intervals, by conventions of the people, in order that they may, without any shock or violence, be adapted to the actual state of things. 42. Resolved, That it was in consequence of a correct idea of the state of the country and of society generally in Ameri- ca, that the committee of the House of Commons asked, whe- ther there was not in the two Canadas a growing inclination to see the institutions become more and more popular, and in that respect more and more like those of the United States; and that John Neilson, Esq., one of the agents sent from this country, answered, that the fondness for popular institutions had made great progress in the two Canadas ; and that the same agent was asked, whether iie did not think that it would be wise that the object of every change made in the institu- tions of the province should be to comply more and more with the wishes of the people, and to render the said institutions ex- tremely popular: to which question this house, for and in the name of the people whom it represents, answers, solemnly and deliberately, " Yes, it would be wise; it would be excellent." 43. Resolved, That the constitution and form of govern- ment which would best suit this colony are not to be sought solely in the analogies offered by the institutions of Great Bri- tain, where the state of society is altogether different from our own ; and that it would be wise to turn to profit by the in- formation to be gained by observing the effects produced by the different and infinitely varied constitutions which the kings and parliament of England have granted to the several planta- tions and colonies in America, and by studying the way in which virtuous and enlightened men have modified such colo- nial institutions, when it could be done with the assent of the parties interested. 44. Resolved, that the unanimous consent with which all the American states have adopted and extended the elective system, shows that it is adapted to the wishes, manners, and social state of the inhabitants of this continent; that this sys- tem prevails equally among those of British and those of Spa- OF CANADA. 131 nieii origin, altiiough tlic latter, during the continuance of their colonial state had been under the calamitous yoke of ignorance and absolutism ; and that we do not hesitate to ask from a prince of the House of Brunswick, and a reformed Parliament, all the freedom and political powers which the princes of the House of Stuart and their parliaments granted to the most fa- voured of the plantations formed at a period when such grants must have been less favourably regarded than thoy would now bo. 45. Resolved, Tliat it was not the bast and most free sys- tems of colonial government which tended most to hasten the independence of the old English colonies; since the province of New York, in which the institutions were most monarchical in the sr-nso which that word appears to bear in the despatch of ihe colonial secretary, was the first to refuse obedience to an act of the Pariiamont of Great Britain: and that the colo- nies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, which, though closely and afTectionutcly connected with the mother country for a long course of years, enjoyed constitutions purely democratic, were the last to enter into a confederation rendered necessary by the conduct of bad servants of the Crown, who called in the supreme authority of the parliament and the British constitu- tion to aid them to govern arbitrarily, listening rather to the governors and their advisers than to the people and their re- presentatives, and shielding with their protection those who consumed the faxes rather than tliose who paid them. 46. Resolved, Tliat with a view to the introduction of what- ever the institutions of the neighbouring States offered that was good and applicable to tiie state of the province, this house had among other measures passed during many years, a bill founded on the principle of proportioning arithmetically the number of representatives to the populace of each place re- presented; and that if, by the pressure of circumstances and the urgent necessity which existed that the number of repre- sentatives should be increased, it has been compelled to assent to amendments which violate that principle, by giving to coun- ties containing a population of little more than 4,000 souls, the same number of representatives ns to several others of which the population is five times as great, this disproportion fel- 'i 1 nil ":f! (< 1^, #1=1 i III' m :j m it I 4. 'hi w 132 THE EUBBLKS is, in the opinion of this house, an act of injustice, for which it ought to seek a remedy: and that in new countries where the population increases rapidly, and tends to create new set- tlements, it is wise and equitable that by a frequent and peri- odical census, such increase and the manner in which it is dis- tributed should be ascertained, principally for tlic purpose of settling the representation of the province on un equitable basis. 47. Resolved, Tiutt the fidelity of the people and the pro- lection of the government arc co-relative obligations of which the one cannot long subsist without the other; lliat by rea- son of the defects whicii exist in the laws and constitution of this province, and of the manner in which those laws and that constitution have been administered, the people of this pro- vince are not sufficiently protected in their lives, tiicir proper- ty, and their honour ; and that the long series of acts of in- justice and oppression of which they have to coniphiin, have increased with alarming rapidity in violence and in number under the present administration. 48. Resolved, Tiiat in tiie midst of these disorders and suf- ferings, this house and the people whom it represents, had al- ways cherished the liope and expressed tlieir fuith that his Majesty's government in England did not knowingly and wil- fully participate in the political immorality of its colonial ngents and officers; and that it is with astonislnncnt and grief liiaL tliey have seen in the extract from tiie defpatciies of the colonial secretary, communicated to this house by tlie govcr- iior-in-ciiief, during tlie present session, that one at least of the members of his Majesty's government entertains towards them feelings of prejudice and animosity,and inclines to favour plans of oppression and revenge, ill adapted to change a system of abuses, the continuance of whicli would altogether discourajje the people, extinguish in them the legitimate hope of happi- ness which, as British subjects, they entertained, and would leave them only the hard alternative of submitting to an ig- nominious bondage, or of seeing those ties endangered which unite them to the mother country. 49. Resolved, That this house and the people, whom it repre- sents, do not wisher intend to convey any threat; but that, rely- OF CANADA. 133 ing, as tlmy do, upon the principles of law and justice, they are, and ought to be, politically strong enough not to be exposed to receive insult from any man whomsoever, or bound to suffer it in silence; that the style of the said extracts from the despatches of the colonial secretary, as communicated to this house, is in- sulting and inconsiderate to such a degree that no legally con- stituted body, although its functions were infinitely subordinate to those of legislation, could or ought to tolerate them; that no similar example can be found, even in the despatches of those of his predecessors in office, least favourable to the rights of the colonies; that the tenor of the said despatches is incom- patible with the rights and privileges of this house, which ought not to be called in question or defined by the colonial secretary, but which, ns occasion may require, will be succes- sively promulgated and enforced by this house. 50. Resolved, That with regard to the following expressions in one of the said despatches, "Should events unhappily force upon parliament the exercise of its supreme authority, to com- pose the internal dissensions of the colonies, it would be my object and my duty, ns a servant of the crown, to submit to parliament such modificjtions of the charter of the Canadas as should tend, not to the introduction of institutions consistent with monarchical government, but to maintaining and strength- ening the connexion with the mother country, by a close ad- herence to the spirit of the British constitution, and by pre- serving in their proper place and within their due limits the mutual rights and privileges of all classes of his Majesty's subjects:" — if they are to be understood as containing a threat to introduce into the constitution any other modifications than such as are asked for by the majority of the people of this province, whose sentiments cannot be legitimately expressed by any other authority than its representatives,' this house would esteem itself wanting in candour to the people of Eng- land, if it hesitated to call their attention to the fact, that in less than twenty years the population of the United States of America will be ns groat or greater than that of Great Britain, and that of British America will be as great or greater than that of the former English colonies was when, the latter deemed that the time was come to decide that the inapprecia- 12* i.. ^'i : m I i ;(■ 134 THE BUBBLES Uf II ble advantage of governing themselves instead of being go- verned, ought to engage them to repudiate a system of colo< nial government which was, generally speaking, mucii better than that of British America now is. 51. Resolved, That the approbation expressed by the colo- nial secretary, in his said despatch, of tiie present composition of the legislative council, whose acts, since its pretended re- form, have been marked by party spirit and by invidious na- tional distinctions and preferences, is a subject of just alarm to iiis Majesty's Canadian subjects in general, and more particu- larly to the great majority of thcni, who have not yielded at any time to any other class of the inhabitants of this province in their attachment to his Majesty's government, in tiicir love of peace and order, in respect for the laws, and in tlieir wish to eftbct that union amonnf the wiiole people whicli is so much to be desired, to llie end that all may enjoy freely and equally the rights and advantages of British subjcotp, and of the insti- tutions which have been guarantied to, and are dear to the country ; that the distinctions and preferences aforesaid have almost constantly been used and taken advantage of by the co- lonial administration of this province, and tlio nwjority of the legislative counsellors, executive counsellor.-', judges, and other functionaries depoiidcnl upon it; and that notiiing but ilie spirit of the union among the several clussosof tlie people, and their conviction that their interests are the same, could have prevented collisions incompatible with the prosperity and safety of the province. 52. Resolved, That since a circumstance, which did not depend upon the choice of the majority of the people, their French origin and their use of the French language, has been made by the colonial authorities a pretext for abuse, for exclu- L-ion, for political inferiority, for a separation of rights and in- terests; this house now appeals to the justice of his Majesty's government and of parliament and to the honour of the people of England; that the majority of the inhabitants of tliis coun- try are in nowise disposed to repudiate any one of the advan- tages they derive from their origin and from their descent from the French nation, which, with regard to the progress, of which it has been the cause, in civilization, in the sciences^ OF CANADA. 135 in letters, and in the arta, has never been behind the British nation, and is now the worthy rival of the latter in the ad- vancement of the cause of liberty and of the science of govern- ment ; from which this country derives the greater portion of its civil and ecclesiastical law, and of its scholastic and chari- table institutions, and of the religion, language, habits, man- ners, and customs of the great majority of its inhabitants. 5Q. Resolved, That our fellow-subjects of British origin, in this province, came to settle themselves in a country, " the in- liabitants whereof, professing the religion of the church of Rome, enjoyed an established form of constitution and system of laws, by wliich their persons and their property had been protected, governed, and ordered during a long series of years, from the first establishment of the province of Canada;" that prompted by these considerations and guided by the rules of justice and of the law of nations, llie British parliament enacted that, " in all matters of controversy, relative to pro- perty and civil rights, resort should be had to the laws of Ca- nada;" that when parliament afterwards departed from the l)rinciple thus recognised, firstly, by the introduction of the Eng- lish criminal law, and afterwards by that of the representative system, with all the constitution and parliamentary law neces- sary to its perfect action, it did so in conformity to tlie suffi- ciently expressed wish of the Canadian people; and tliat every attempt on the part of public funetioniries or of other persons (who on coming to settle in the province, made their condi- tion their own voluntary act) against the existence of any por- tion of the laws and institutions peculiar to the country, and any preponderance given to sucli persons in the legislative and executive councils, in the courts of law, or in other depart- ments, are contrary to the engagements of the British parlia- ments and to the rights guarantied to his Majesty^s Canadian subjects?, on the faith of the national honour of England on that of capitulations and treaties. 54. Resolved, Tliat any combination, whether effected by means of acts of the British parliament, obtained in contraven- tion to its former engagements, or by means of tiie partial and corrupt administration of the present constitution and system of law, would be a violation of those rights, and would, as long " ; » W 9, 1 13G THE BUBBLES as it Bhoiild exist, be obeyed by the people, from motives of fear and constraint, and not from choice and affection ; that the con- duct of the colonial administrations, and of their agents and in- struments in this colony, has, for the most part, been of a na- ture unjustly to create apprehensions as to the views of the people and government of the mother country, and to en- danger the confidence and content of the inhabitants of this province, which can only be secured by equal laws, and by the observance of equal justice, as the rule of conduct in all the departments of the government. 56. Resolved, That whether the number of that class of his Majesty's subjects in this province, who are of British origin, be that mentioned in the said address of the legislative coun- cil, or whether (as the truth is) it amounts to less than half that number, the wishes and interests of the great majority of them are common to them and to their fellow-subjects of French origin, and speaking the French language; that the one class love the country of their birth, the other that of their adoption; ♦hat the greater portion of tiie latter have acknow- ledged tlic generally bcneficiul tendency of the laws and insti- tutions of the country, and have laboured in concert with the former to introduce into them gradually, and by the authority of the provincial parliament, the improvements of which they have, from time to time, appeared susceptible, and have resist- ed the confusion which it has been endeavoured to introduce into them, in favour of schemes of monopoly and abuse, and that all without distinction wish anxiously for an impartial and protecting government. r)6. Resolved, That in addition to administrative and judi- cial abuses, which have had an injurious eftect upon the public welfare and confidence, attempts have been made, from lime to time, to induce the parliament of the United Kingdom, by de- ceiving its justice and abusing its benevolent intentions, to adopt measures calculated to bring about combinations of the nature above mentioned, and to pass acts of internal legislation for this province, having the same tendency, and with regard to which, the people of the country had not been consulted ; that, unhap- pily, the attempts to obtain the passing of some of these mea- sures were successful, especially that of the act of the 6 Geo. I OF CANADA. 137 4, c. 59, commonly called the " Tenures Act," the repeal of which was unanimously demanded by ail classes of the people, without distinction, througli their representatives, a very short time afler the number of the latter was increased; and that this house lias not yet been able to obtain from his Majesty's representative in this province, or from any other source, any information os to the views of his Majesty's government in England, with regard to the repeal of the said act. 57. Resolved, That the object of the said act was, according- to the benevolent intentions of parliament, and as the title of the act sets forth, the extinction of feudal and seigniorial rights and dues on land held enjie/'and d cens in this province, with the intention of fnvouring^the great body of the inhabitants of the country, and protecting them against liie said dues, vvhicli were regarded as burdensome; but that the provisions of the said ;ict, far from having the effect aforesaid, afford facilities for seigniors to become, in opposition to the interests of their cen- situires, the absolute proprietors of the e.\tensive tracts of un- conceded lands which, by the law of the country, they held only for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof, to whom they were bound to concede them in consideration of certain limit- ed dues; that tlie said act, if generally acted upon, would shut out the mass of the permanent inliabitants of the country from the vacant lands in the seigniories, while, at the same time, they have been constantly prevented from settling on the waste lands of the crown on ea.sy and liberal terms, and under a te- nure adapted to the laws of the country, by the partial, secret, and vicious manner in which the crown land department hos been managed, and the provisions of the act aforesaid, with re- gard to the laws applicable to the lands in question; and that the application made by certain seigniors for a change of tenure, under the authority of the said act, appear to prove the correctness of the viev/ this house has taken of its practical effect. 58. Resolved, That it was only in consequence of an erro- neous supposition, that feudal charges were inherent in the law of this country, os far as the possession and transmission of real property, and the tenures recognised by that law, were concerned, that it was enacted ia the said act that the lands, ■ '. 'j lU ir'ij 138 THE BUBBLES ,1 willi regard to which a change of tenure should be effected, should thereafter be held under the tenure of free and com- mon soccDge ; that the seigniorial charges have been found burdensome in certain cases, chiefly by reason of the want of adequate means of obtaining the interference of the colonial government and of the courts of law, to enforce the ancient law of the country in that behalf, and that tlie provincial legis- lature was, moreover, fully competent to pass laws, providing for the redemption of the said charges in a manner which should be in accordance with the interests of all parties, and for the introduction of the free tenures recognised by the laws of the country ; that the House of Assembly has been repeat- edly occupied, and now is occupied about tliis important sub- ject; but that the said Tenures Act, insufficient of itself to effect equitably the purpose for which it was passed, is of a na- ture to embarrass and create obstacles to the effectual mea- sures which the legislature of the country, with a full know- ledge of tiie subject, might be disposed to adopt; and that the application thus made (to the exclusion of the provincial legis- lature) to the parliament of the United Kingdom, which was far less competent to make equitable enactments on a subject so complicated in its nature, could only have been made with a view to unlawful speculations and the subversion of the laws of the country. 59. Resolved, That independently of its many other serious imperfections, the said act does not appear to have been found- ed on a sufficient knowledge of the laws which govern persons and property in this country, when it declares the laws of Great Britain to be applicable to certain incidents to real pro- perty therein enumerated; and that it has only served to aug- ment the confusion and doubt which had prevailed in the courts of law, and in private transactions with regard to the law which applied to lands previously granted in free and common soccage. 60. Resolved, That the provision of the said act which has excited the greatest alarm, and which is most at variance with the rights of the people of the country, and with those of the provincial parliament, is that which enacts that lands pre- wously held en fief or en censine shall, after a change of te- or CANADA. i3y iiurc shall have been cfTected with regard to them, be held in free and common soccage, and thereby become subject to the laws of Great Britain, under the several circumstances therein mentioned and enumerated ; that besides being insufficient in itself, this provision is of a nature to bring into collision, in the old settlements, at multiplied points of contiguity, two op- posite systems of laws, one of which is entirely unknown to this country, in which it is impossible to carry it into effect; that from the feeling manifested by the colonial authorities and their partisans towards the inhabitants of the country, the latter have just reason to fear that the enactment in question is only the prelude to the final subversion, by acts of parlia- ment of Great Britain, fraudulently obtained in violation of its former engagements, of the system of laws by which the per- sons and property of the people of this province were so long jjappily governed. 61. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this country have just reason to fear that the claims made to the property of the se- minary of St. Sulpice, at Montreal, are attributable to the de- sire of the colonial administration, and its agents and tools, to hasten this deplorable state of things; and that his Majesty's government in England would, by reassuring his faithful sub- jects on this point, dissipate the alarm felt by the clergy, and by the whole people without distinction, and merit their sin- cere gratitude. 02. Resolved, That it is the duty of this house to persist in asking for the absolute repeal of the said tenures act, and until such repeal shall be effected, to propose to the other branches of the provincial parliament such measures as may be adapted to weaken the pernicious effects of the said act. 63. Resolved, That this house has learned with regret, from one of the said despatches of the colonial secretary, that his Mojesty has been advised to interfere in a matter which con- cerns the privileges of this house: that in the case there al- luded to, this house exercised a privilege solemnly established by the house of commons, before the principle on which it rests became the law of the land ; that this privilege is essen- tial to the independence of this house, and to the freedom of its votes and proceedings; that the resolutions passed by this I i7 I I 1? v.: i 11 i'- t I > m i-!8 'tis' it' 1*. .^!'^ 140 THE DUHBLES 'il house, on the 15th of February, 1831, are constitutional and well founded, and arc supported by the example of the com- mons of Great Britoin; that this house has repeatedly passed bills for giving eifect to the said principle, but that these bills failed to become law, at first from the obstacles opposed to them in another branch of the provincial legislature, and sub- sequently by reason of the reservation of the last of the said bills for the signification of his Majesty's pleasure in England, whence it has not yet been sent back; that until some bill to the same effect shall become law, this house persists in the said resolutions; and that the refusal of his excellency, the pre- sent governor-in-chief, to sign a writ for the election of ii knight representative for the county of Montreal, in the place of Dominique Mondelet, Esq., whose scat had been declared vacant, is a grievance of which this house is entitled to obtain the redress, and one which would alone have sufficed to put an end to all intercourse between it and the colonial executive, if the circumstances of the country had not olTercd an infinite number of other abuses and grievances against which it is ur- gently necessary to remonstrate. 61. Resolved, Tliat the claims which have for many years been set up by the executive government to that control over and power of appropriating a great portion of the revenues le- vied in this province, which belong of right to this house, arc contrary to the rights and to the constitution of the country; and that witli regard to the said claims, this house persists in the declarations it has heretofore made. 65. Resolved, That the said claims of the executive have been vague and varying; that the documents relative to the said claims, and the accounts and estimates of expenses laid before this house have likewise been varying and irregular, and insufficient to enable this house to proceed with a full un- derstanding of the subject on the matters to which they re- lated; that important heads of the public revenue of the pro- vince, collected either under tnc provisions of the law or under arbitrary regulations made by the executive, has been omitted in the said accounts; that numerous items have been paid out of the public revenue without the authority of this house, or any acknowledgment of its control over theiu, as salaries for or CANADA. 141 fiinecuro offices, which aro not recognised by this house, and even for objects fur which, aflcr mature deliberation, it had not deemed it expedient to appropriate any portion of the public revenue; and that no accounts of the sums so expended have been laid before this house. 60. Resolved, That the executive government has endea* voured, by means of tlio arbitrary regulations aforesaid, and particularly by the sale of the waste lands of the Crown, and of the timber on the same, to create for itself out of the reve* nue which this house only has the right of appropriating, re- sources independent of the control of the representatives of the people ; and that the rcBult has been a diminution of the whole- some influence which the people have constitutionally the right of exorcising over the administrative branch of the go- vernment, and over the spirit and tendency of its measures. 07. Resolved, That this house having, from time to time, with a view to proceed by bill, to restore regularity to the tinancinl system of the province, and to provide for the ex- penses of tlic admini^'.ration of justice and of his Majesty's ci- vil government tliorein, asked the provincial government by address fi)r divers documents and accounts relating to financial matters, and to nI)U8Cs connected with them, has met with re- peated rcfuBah. more especially during the present session and the preceding one; that divers subordinate public functionaries, summoned to appear bnforo committees of this house to gi'.e information on tho said subject, havo refused to do so in pur- suance of the said claim set up by the provincial odministra- tions to withdraw a largo portion of the public income and expenditure from the control and even from the knowledge of this house; that during the present session one of the said subordinate functionaries of the executive being called upon to produce the originals of sundry registers of warrants and re- ports, which it was important to this house to cause to be exa- mined, insisted on being present at the deliberations of the committee appointed by the house for that purpose; and that the head of the administration being informed of the fact, re- frained from interfering, although in conformity to parliamen- tary usage, this house had pledged itself that the said docu- 13 f" 1 1 ' -( ^1 I ■I'l i *li JH I H 142 TlIK DUIillLiilS ments should bo returned, mid altlioii!;)i the govcrnor-in-chict' had himself promised corimiiiiiicnlioti of thcin. 68. Resolved, Tliat the result of iho ticcrct and unlawful distribution of a large portion of the public revenue of tho pro- vince has boon, tliat tiic executive g-overnment has alwoys, except with regard to appropriations tor objects of a local na- ture, considered itself bound to account for tho public money to the lords commissioners of the treasury in England, and not to this house, nor according to its votes, or even in conformity to the laws passed by the provincial legislature ; and tliat the accounts and statements laid before this houso from time to lime have never assumed the shape of a regular system of ba- lanced accounts, but have been drawn up, one after another, with such alterations and irregularities as it pleased the admi- nistration of the duy to introduce into them, from the accounts kept with the lords of the treasury, in which the whole public money received was included, as well as all tho items of ex- penditure, whether authorized or unauthorized by the provin- cial legislature. 69. Resolved, That the pretensions and abuses aforesaid have taken away from this house even the shadow of control over the public revenue of tho province, and have rendered it impossible fur it to ascertain ut any time the amount of revenue collected, the disposable amount of tho same, and the sums required for the public service; and that tho house having during many years passed bills, of vviiich tho models are to bo found in the statute-book of Great Britain, to establish a regular system of accountability and responsibility in the de- partment connected with the receipt and expenditure of the revenue; these bills have failed in the legislative council. 70. Resolved, That since the last session of the provincial parliament, the govcrnor-in-chicf of this province, and the members of his executive government, relying on the preten- sions above-mentioned, have, without any lawful authority, paid large sums out of the public revenue, subject to the con- trol of this house; and that the said sums were divided accord- ing to their pleasure, and even in contradiction to the votes of this house, as incorporated in the supply bill passed by it during the last session, and rejected by the legislative council. or CANADA. 143 II 71. Resolved, That til is liouso will hold rcspoMdiblo for all moneys which have been, or may hcreallcr bo paid, olhcrwian than under tlic authority of an act of the legislature, or upon an addresH of tiiirf house, out of the public revenue of tho pro- vince, all those who may have authorized sucii payments, or participated therein, until tlio paid sums shall huvo been re- imbursed, or a bill or bills of indemnity freely passed by this liouBO shall have become 1l\v. 72. Resolved, That tho course adopted by this house in tho supply bill, passed durinfj tho last session, of attaching certain conditions to certain vote?, fur the purpose of preventing tho accumulation of incompatible oflices in the same persons, and of obtaiiiiiif^ ['"a redress of certain abuses and grievances, is wise and constitutional, and has frequently been adopted by tho house of commonp, under analogoun circumstances: and that if tho commons of England do not now so frequently recur to it, it is because they have happily obtained the entire control of tho revenue of tho nation, and because respect shown to their opinions with regard to tho redress of grievances and abuses, by the other constituted authorities, haa regulated the working of tho constitution in a manner equally adapted to give stability to his Majesty's govo»*rment, and to protect the interests of the people. lii. Resolved, That it wag anciently tho practice of tho House of Commons to withhold supplies until grievances were redressed; and that in following this course in the present con- juncture, we are warranted in our proceeding, as well by the most approved precedents, as by tho spirit of tho constitution itself. • 74. Resolved, That if hereafter, when the redress of all grie- vances and abuses shall have been effected, this house shall deem it fit and expedient to grant supplies, it ought not to do 80 otherwise than in the manner mentioned in its fifth and sixth resolutions, of tho Kith March, IS'Y.), and by appropriating by its votes in an especial manner, and in the order in which they are enumerated in the said resolutions, the full amount of those heads of revenue, to the right of appropriating which claims have been set up by the executive government. 75. Resolved, That the number of the inhabitants of the country being about 600,000, those of French origin arc about I I l^'l i I ' If t'H 144 THE BUBBLES ■'^ ;»is .i 525,000, and those of British or other origio 75,000; and that the establishment of the civil government of Lower Canada for the year 1832, according to the yearly returns made by the provincial administration, for the information of the British parliament, contained the names of 157 officers and others re- ceiving salaries, who are apparently of British or foreign ori- gin, and the names of 47 who are apparently natives of the country, of French origin: that this statement does not exhibit the whole disproportion wliich exists in the distribution of the public money and power, the latter class being for the most part appointed to the inferior and loss lucrative offices, and most frequently only obtaining even these by becoming the de- pendants of those who hold the higher and more lucrative of- fices; that the accumulation of many of the best paid and most influential, and at the same time incompatible offices, in the same person, which is forbidden by the laws and by sound poli- cy, exists especially for the benefit of the former class; and that two-thirds of the persons included in the last commission of the peace issued in the province arc apparently of Britisii or tbreign origin, and one-third only of French origin. 76. Resolved, That this partial and abusive practice of be- stowing the great majority of official places in tlio province on those only who are the least connected with its permanent interests, and with the mass of its inhabitants, had been most especially remarkable in the judicial department, the judges for the three great districts having, with tiic exception of one only in each, been eybtcmatically chosen from that class of per- sons, who being born out of the country, are tiie least versed in its laws, and in the language and usages of the majority of its inhabitants; thattlie result of their intermeddling in tlic politics of the country, of their connexion with the members of the Co- lonial administration, and of their prejudices in favour of the in- stitutions foreign to and at variance with those of the country, is that the majority of the said judges have introduced great irregu- larity into the general system of our jurisprudence, by neglect- ing to ground their decisions on its recognised principles; and that the claim laid by the said judges to the power of regu- lating the forms of legal proceedings in a manner contrary to the laws and without the interference of the legislature, has frequently been extended to the fundamental rules of the law 1 that jafor y the ritieh OF CANADA. 145 i: > and of practice; and that in consequence of the same system, ^he administration of the criminal law is partial and uncertain, and such as to afford but little protection to the subject, and has failed to inspire that confidence which ought to be its in- separable companion. 77. Resolved, That in consequence of their connexion with the members of the provincial administrations, and of their an- tipathy to the country, some of the said judges have, in viola- tion of the laws, attempted to abolish the use in the courts of law of the language spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of the country, which is necessary to the free action of the laws, and forms a portion of the usages guarantied to them in the most solemn manner by the law of nations and by the sta- tutes of the British Parliament. 78. Resolved, That some of the said judges, through parti- ality for political purposes, and in violation of the criminal law of England as established in this country, of their duty, and their oath, have connived with divers law officers of the crown, acting in the interests of the provincial administration, to al- low the latter to engross and monopolize all criminal prosecu- tions of what nature soever, without allowing the private pro- secutor to intervene or be heard, or any advocate to express his opinion amicus curicc, when the Crown officers opposed it; that in consequence of this, numerous prosecutions of a politi- cal nature have been brought into the courts of law by the Crown officers against those whose opinions were unfavoura- ble to the adminis:.ration for the time being; while it was im- possible for the very numerous class of his majesty's subjects to which the latter belonged to commence with the slightest confidence any prosecution against those who, being protected by the administration, and having countenanced its acts of vio- lence, had been guilty of crimes or misdemeanors; that the tribunal aforesaid have, as far as the persons composing them are concerned, undergone no modification whatever, and in- spire the same fears for the future. 79. Resolved, That this house, as representing the people of this province, possesses of right, and has exercised within this province when occasion has required it, all the powers, privileges, and immunities claimed and possessed by the Com- 13* 146 THE BUBBLES mons bouse of Parliament in the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 80. Resolved, That it is one of the undoubted privileges of this house to send for all persons, papers, and records, and to command the attendance of all persons, civil or military, resi- dent within the province, as witnesses in all investigations which this house may deem it expedient to institute; and to require such witnesses to produce all papers and records in their keeping, whenever it shall deem it conducive to the public good to do so. 81. Resolved, That as at the grand inquest of the province, it is the duty of this house to inquire concerning all grievances, and all circumstances which may endanger the general wel- fare of the inhabitants of the province, or be of a nature to ex- cite alarm in them with regard to their lives, their liberty, and their property, to the end that such representations may be made to our most gracious Sovereign, or such legislative mea- sures introduced, as may lead to the redress of such grievances, or tend to allay such alarm; and that far from having a right to impede the exercise of these rights and privileges, the go- vernor-in-chief is deputed by his Sovereign, is invested with great powers, and receives a large salary, as much for defend- ing the rights of the subject and facilitating the exercise of the privileges of this house and of all constituted bodies, as for maintaining the prerogatives of the crown. 82. Resolved, That since the commencement of the present session, a great number of petitions relating to the infinite variety of objects connected with the public welfare, have been presented to this house, and many messages and important com- munications received by it, both from his Majesty's govern- ment in England and from his Majesty's provincial govern- ment; that many bills have been introduced in this house, and many important inquiries ordered by it, in several of which the governor-in-chief is personally and deeply implicated; that the said petitions from our constituents, the people of all parts of this province; the said communications from his Majesty's government in England and from the provincial government; tlio said bills already introduced or in preparation; the said ioquiries comDicnced and intended to be diligently prosecuted, OF CANADA. 147 may and must necessitate the presence of numerous wit- nesses, the production of numerous papers, the employment of numerous clerks, messengers, and assistants, and much print- ing, and lead to inevitable and daily disbursements, forming the contingent expenses of this house. 83. Resolved, That from the year 1792 to the present, advances had constantly been made to meet these expenses, on addresses similar to that presented this year by this house to the governor-in-chief, according to the practice adopted by the House of Commons; that an address of this kind is the most solenm vote of credit whici) this house can pass, and that almost the whole amount of the sum exceeding £277,000 has been advanced on such votes by the pre- decessors of his excellency the governor-in-chief, and by himself (as he acknowledges by his message on the 18th January, 1834,) without any risk having ever been incurred by any other governor on account of any such advance, al- though several of them have had differences, attended by vio- lence i.r' inji'slice on their part, with the house of assembly, and vW'! ' t'.iir apprehending that the then next parliament wouK sposed to make good the engagements of the house of assembly for the time being; and that this refusal of the govcrnor-in-chief, in the present instance, essentially im- pedes the despatch of the business for which the parliament was called together, is derogatory to the rights and honour of this house, and forms another grievance for which the present administration of this province is responsible. 84. Resolved, That besides the grievances and abuses before- mentioned, there exist in this province a great number of others (a part of wiiich existed before the commencement vf the pre- sent administration, which has maintained them, and is the author of a portion of them,) with regard to which this house reserves to itself the right of complaining and demanding re- paration, and the number of which is too great to allow of their being enumerated here : that this house points out as among that number, — Istly. The vicious composition and the irresponsibility of the executive council, the members of which arc at the same time judges of the court of appeals, and the secrecy with which not only the functions, but even the names of the members of ■• 111 li't UDf ki B'^ 148 THE BUBBLES that body have been kept from the knowledge of this house, when inquiries have been instituted by it on the subject. 2dly. The exorbitant fees illegally exacted in certain of the public offices, and in others connected with the judicial depart- ment, under regulations made by the executive council, by the judges, and by other functionaries usurping the powers of the legislature. 3dly. The practice of illegally calling upon the judges to give their opinions secretly on questions which may be after- wards publicly and contradictorily argued before them; and the opinions themselves so given by the said judges, as political partisans, in opposition to the laws, but in favour of the adminis- tration for the time beiujT. 4thly. The cumulation of public places and offices in the same persons, and the effi^^rts made by a number of families connected with the administration to perpetuate this state of things for their own advantage, and for the sake of domineering for ever, with interested views and in the spirit of party, over the people and their rt^jresentatives. 5thly. The intermeddling of members of the legislative councils in the elections of the representatives of the people, for the purpose of influencing and controlling them by force, and the selection frequently made of returning officers for the purpose of securing the same partial and corrupt ends; the interference of the present governor-in-chief himself in the said elections; his approval of the intermeddling of (he said le- gislative counsellors in the said elections; the partiality with which he intervened in the judicial proceedings connected with the said elections, for the purpose of influencing the said proceeding in a manner favourable to the military power, and contrary to the independence of the judicial power; and the applause which, as commander of the forces, he bestowed upon the sanguinary execution of the citizens by the soldiery. Gthly. The interference of the armed military force at such elections, through which three peaceable citizens, whose ex- ertions were necessary to the support of their families, and who were strangers to the agitation of the election, were shot dead in the streets; the applause bestowed by the governor-in chief and commander of the forces on the authors of this sanguinary military execution (who had not been acquitted on house, of the depart- by the of the OF CAITADA. 149 by a petty jury,) for the firmness and discipline displayed by them on that occasion. 7thly. The various faulty and partial systems which have been followed ever since the passing' of the constitutional act, with regard to the management of the waste lands in this province, and have rendered it impossible for the great major- ity of the people of the country to settle on the said lands ; the fraudulent and illegal manner in which, contrary to his Ma- jesty's instructions, governors, legislative and executive coun- sellors, judges, »ind subordinate officers have appropriated to themselves lar^j tracts of the said lands; the monopoly of an extensive portion of the said lands in the hands of speculators residing in England, with which the province is now threat- ened ; and the alarm generally felt therein with regard to the alleged participation of his Majesty's government in this scheme, without its havinsr deigned to re-assure his faithful subjects on tliis head, or to reply to the humble address to his Majesty adopted by this house during the last session. Sthl}'. The increase of the expenses of the government with- out the authority of the legislature, and the disproportion of the salaries paid to public functionaries to the services per- formed by them, to the rent of real property, and to the ordi- nary income commanded by the exertions of persons possessing talent, industry, and economy, equal to or greater than those of the said functionaries. Othly. The want of all resource in the courts of law on the part of those who have just and legal claims on the government. lOthly. The too frequent reservation of bills for the signifi- cation of his mnjcsty's pleasure, and the neglect of the Colonial Office to consider such bills, a great number of which have never been sent back to the province, and some of which have even been returned so late that doubts may be entertained as to tiie vi'.lidity of the sanction given to them; a circumstance which has introduced irregularity and uncertainty into tl:e legislation of the province, and is felt by this house as an im- pediment to the re-introduction of the bills reserved during the then preceding sessions. llthly. The neglect on the part of the Colonial Office to give any answer to certain addresses transmitted by this house on important subjects; the practice followed by the administra- ! I ■>\i (I ■■'• ;■ i IT 5(1 li i-1 >^ 150 THE BUBBLES .;r^ tion of communicating in an incomplete manner, and by ex- tracts, and frequently without giving their dates, the despatches received from time to time on subjects which liave engaged the attention of this house ; and the too frequent refcicnces to the opinion of his Majesty's ministers in England, on the part of the provincial administration, upon points which it is in their power and within tiieir province to decide. 12thly. The unjust retention of the college at Quebec, which forms part of the estates of the late order of Jesuits, and which from a college has been transformed into a barrack for soldiers; the renewal of the lease of a considerable portion of the same estates, by the provincial executive, in flwour of a member of the legislative council, since those estates were re- turned to the legislature, and in opposition to tlie prayer of this house, and to the known wishes of a great number of his Ma- jesty's subjects, to obtain lands there and to settle on them ; and the refusal of the said executive to communicate the said lease, and otiicr information on the subject, to this house. 13thly. Tlic obstacles unjustly opposed by the executive, friendly to abuses and to ignorance, to the establishment of colleges endowed by virtuous and disinterested men, for the purpose of meeting the growing desire of the people for the careful education of their children,* 14thly. The refusal of justice with regard to the accusations brought by this house, in the name of the people, against judges for flagrant acts of malversation, and for ignorance and viola- tion of the law. ISthly. The refusals on the part of the governors, and * To illus^tratc the malignant spirit inlicrit in the party there only needed this acciisatinn. Mr. M'Gill, a respectable resident, on hii) demise some years ago, left XIO.OOO, wliorewith to endow a college for the purpose of edu- cation, to be called after him. I'lio hcirat-law and executor, one of tlie clique, refused to part with the funds, and disputed the will. After being worsted in the Colonial courts, it was carried by appeal to London, and ul- timately the decision of the courts in Canada confirmed, by which the bequest, with interest, now amounting to more than X'21,000, is ordered to be applied according to the testator's will. We shall merely state that Viger prosecuted the suit— that Papineaii advis.^d the defence— and that Des lUvieres, the executor, since the cause has been decided ogainst liim, is bankrupt. The crime of the will, we suppose, was, that it did not restrict the uses of the co|. lege to the French party.— Se« Canada Question, OF CANADA. 151 more especially of the present governor-in-chief, to commu- nicate to this house the information asked for by it from time to time, and which it had a right to obtain, on a great number ot subjects connected with the public business of the province. 16thly. Tiie refusal of his Majesty's Government to reim- burse to the province the amount for which the late receiver- general was a defaulter, and its neglect to enforce the recourse which the province was entitled to against the property and person of the late receiver-general. 85. Resolved, That the facts mentioned in the foregoing re- solutions, demonstrate that the laws and constitutions of the province have not, at any period, been administered in a man- ner more contrary to the interests of his Majesty's government, and to the rights of the people of this province, than under the present administration, and render it necessary tiiat his Excel- lency Matthew Lord Aylmer, of Balrath, the present governor- in-chief of this province, be formally accused by this house of liaving, while acting as governor, in contradiction to the wishes of the Imperial Parliament, and to the instructions he may have received, and against the honour and dignity of the crown, and the rights and privileges of this house and the people whom it represents, so recomposed the legislative council as to augment the dissensions which rend tins colony; of having seriously im- peded the labours of this house, acting as the grand inquest of the country; of liaving disposed of the public revenue of the province, against the consent of the representatives of the peo- ple, and in violation of the law and constitution ; of having maintained existing abuses, and created now ones; of having refused to sign a writ tor tiie election of a representative to fill a vacancy which had happened in this house, and to complete the number of representatives established by law for this pro- vince; and that this house expects from the honour, patriotism, und justice of the reformed Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the commons of the said parliament will bring impeach- ments, and will support such impeachments before the House of Lords against the said Matthew Lord Aylmer, for his illegal, unjust, and unconstitutional administration of the government of this province; and against such of the wicked and perverse advisers who have misled him, as this house may hereafter ac- ► m -n-jil? 1 . nil 159 THE BUBBLES cuse, if there be no means of obtaining justice against them in the province, or at the hands of his Majesty's executive govern- ment in England. 86. Resolved, That this house hopes and believes that the independent members of both houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom will be disposed, both from inclination and a sense of duty, to support the accusations brought by this house; to watcii over the preservation of its rights and privileges, which have been so frequently and violently attacked, more especially by the present administration; and so to act, that the people of this province may not be forced by oppression to re- gret their dependence on the British Empire, and to seek else- where a remedy for their affliction. 87. Resolved, That this house learned, with gratitude, that Daniel O'Conneli, Esq., had given notice in the House of Com- mons in July last, that during the present session of the Impe- rial Parliament, he would call its attention to the necessity of reforming the legislative and executive councils in the two Canadas; and that the interest thus shown for our own fate by him whom the gratitude and blessings of his countrymen have, with the applause of the whole civilized world, proclaimed great and liberator, end of whom our fellow-countrymen entertain cor- responding sentiments, keeps alive in us the hope that, through the goodness of our cause and the services of such a friend, the British Parliament will not permit a minister, deceived by the interested representations of the provincial administration and its creatures and tools, to exert (as there is reason from his despatches to apprehend that he may attempt to do) the high- est degree of oppression in favour of a system which, in bet- ter times, he characterized as faulty, and against subjects of his Majesty who are apparently only known to him by the great patience with which they have waited in vain for pro- mised reforms. 88. Resolved, That this house has the same confidence in Joseph Hume, Esq., and feels the same gratitude for the anx- iety which he has repeatedly shown for the good government of these colonies, and the amelioration of their laws and constitu- tions, and calls upon the said Daniel O'Conneli and Joseph Hume, Esqrs., whose con-^tant devotednesa was, even under a OF CANADA. 153 tory ministry, and before the reform of parliament, partially successful in the emancipation of Ireland, from the same bon- dage and the same political inferiority with which the coni' munications received from the colonial secretary during the present session menace the people of Lower Canada, to use their etSbtta that the laws and constitution of this province may be amended in the manner demanded by the people thereof; that the abuses and grievances of which the latter have tv complain may be fully and entirely redressed ; and that the laws and constitution may be iiereaflcr administered in a irinii* ner consonant with justice, with the honour of the crown and of the people of England, and with the rights, liberties, and pri- vilegcsof the people of this province, and of this house by whicii they are represented. 89. Resolved, That this iiouae invites the members of tin- minority of the legislative council who partake the opinions ot the people, the present members of the House of Assem- bly, until the next general election, and afterwards all t!it' members then elected, and such other persons as they may as- sociate with them, to form one committee or two committees of correspondence, to sit at Quebec and Montreal in the first in- stance, and afterwards at such place as they shall think pro- per; the said committees to communicate with each other and with the several local committees, which may be formed in different parts of the province, and to enter into correspondence with the Honourable Denis B. Vigor, the agent of this proviiico in England, with the said Daniel O'Connell and Joseph Hume. Esqrs., and with such other members of tlie House of Lords or of the House of Commons, and such other persons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as they may deem expedient, for the purposeof supporting the -claims of the people of this province and of this house; of furnishing such in- formation, documents, and opinions as they may think adapted to make known the state, wishes, and wants of the province: the said committees also to correspond with such persons as they shall think proper in the other British colonies, which are all interested, that the most populous of their sister colonies do not sink under the violent attempt to perpetuate the abuses and evils which result as well from the vices of its constitution as 14 ■■|. < J54 TUE BUBBLES from the combined malversation of the administrative, legishc tive, and judicial departments, out of which have sprung insult and oppression for the people, and, by a necessary consequence, hatred and contempt, on their purt, tor the provincial govern- ment. 90. Resolved, That tlio Honourable Denis Bcnjnmin Vigor be requested to remain at the seat of his Majesty's government, at least during the present session of tlio Imperial Parliament, to continue to watch over the interests of the province with the same zeal and the same devotedncss as heretofore, w ithout suf- fering himself to be discouraged by mere formal objections on the part of those who are unwilling to listen to the complaints of the country. 91. Resolved, That the fuir and reasonable expenses of the said two committees of corrcspomlcnco, incurred by them in the performance of the duties intrusted to them by this house, are a debt which it contracts towards them; and that the re- presentatives of the people are bound in honour to u?e all con- stitutional means lo reimburse such expenses to the said com- mittee, or to such person as may advance money to tlietn for the purposes above-mentioned. 92. Resolved, That the message from his excellency the governor-in-chief, received on tlio 13th of January last, and relating to the writ of election for the county of Montreal, with the extract from a despatch which accompnnied if, the message from the same, received the s.imo day, and relating to the sup- ply bill, and the message from the same, received on the 14tli January last, with the extract from the despatch which accom- panied it, be expunged from the journals of this liouse. These resolutions, and the memorial ace mpany- ing them, were referred to a committee composed, like the last, chiefly of liberal members, and contain- ing several persons whose opinions were well known to be favourable to their cause. The Canadian dele- gate, Mr. Morin,* was heard at great length, and I * See the evidence taken before the committee, and publit>he d by order of Parliament. OP CAVADA. 155 must refer you to the testimony given by him as a proof how all the vague assertions contained in their petition and resolutions vanished, when they were subjected to a critical and close examination. There are few instances on record in which a witness was so skilfully examined, or where a clever man, as he undoubtedly is, was brought to refute himself so completely as he has done. After a palient hearing of all he could say, the committee reported (June, 1S34,) as follows: — " Tiiat the most earnest anxiety had existed, on the part of the home government, to carry into ef- fect the suggestions of the committee of 1828; and that the endeavours of the government to thrt end had been unremitting, and guided by the desire, in all cases, to promote the interest of the colony; and that in several important particulars their endeavours had been completely successful; that in others, how- ever, they had not been attended with that success which might have been anticipated, heats and ani- mosities and differences having arisen; that it ap- peared to the committee some mutual misconception had prevailed; and that they believed they should best discharge their duty by withholding any farther opinion on the points in dispute; and were persuaded the practical measures for the future administration of Lower Canada might best be left to the mature consideration of the government responsible for their adoption and execution." 1 < lii •'V I'M l.Vt THE BUBBLES LETTER VIII. V I li Shortly afterwards the wliole of the proceedings (»f govcnimeiit, since the year 1828 lo the present |)eriocl, were dclnilctl in a very able and lucid state- jncnt of my Lord Aberdeen, in which he claims for iiiinsclf and colleagues the credit of a full and faith- I'lil comjiliance with the recommendations of the Ca- iiiida committee, as far as the powers of the execu- 'ivi! permitted them to do so. I have, therefore, ihslaiiicd from entering into the particulars myself, Mul jirefer giving this narrative to compiling one of my own. It is not only infmitciv better done than I could hope to do it, but it is desirable, in such cases, to draw one's information from the most au- 'hontic sources. I am neither the advocate nor the panegyrist of any of these administrations — what my ojiinion of their policy may bo is of little conse- quence; but even if it were much more favourable than it happens to be, I should refrain from express- ing it, for I have yet to learn how a poor man can eulogize the character of those who are in power, and yet sustain the reputation of his own sincerity. With the wisdom of their measures I have nothing to do at present; my object is to show there has been no oppression, and that, whatever imputation these proceedings deserve, they are at least exempted from that of unkindness. I must, therefore, request a careful perusal of the following document: — or CANADA. 167 In tho following pa^'cs Lurd Aberdeen will attempt to show that there was Hulliciont reason to anticipate the entire conci> liation of Lower Cuniida from the Dcconiplisiimcnt of the rcso* lutions of the Canada comrnittco,and that, to the utmoHt of the power of tiio Crown, those rcBohitiontj wore, in fuct, carried into execution. The appointment of tho Canada committee of 1828 vvai-', on every occount, an important prococdiiig. Tho redress of grievances Imd been demanded, not by an isolated party, but by both of those groat bodies whicli divide between them tho wealth and political authority of tlio province. With views cssenliully dissimilar, or rather hostile, lh«y had concurred in nn oppeal to iho metropolitan government. By each body of jHititioners were deputed agents aiUhoriz^'J to interpret their wishoft, and to enforce thuir claims. Th .' committee itself was certainly not composed of gentlemen ur« favourable to tho views of the great numerical majority of the house of assembly. Tliey prosecuted the inquiry with great diligence and zeal. They examined tho agents of both par- tiep, and every other person capable of throwing light on the su!)j«ict rcffrrod to them. None of tho questions brought un- der their notice, either by tho petitioners or by the witncs!!cs, was unexplored; and, in the rei-nilt, a report was made, in which, with an explanation of every hnown or supposed grievance, wore combined suggestions fi^r tho guidance of the executive government in applying the appropriate rcmodiep. Tlie house of assembly in liOwer Caiiadii, in their answer to tiio address with which tho administrator of the government opened tho session of tho provincial parliament in the winter of 1828, characterized this report in terms which may bo tran- scribed as expressing, on tho highest local authority, tho claims of that documont to respect, ns aKbrditig a guide at once to the Canadian assembly, and to tho minii-ter-^ of the crown, of the rights to be asserted by the one, and . : >■• .ied by the other. "The charges and wellfonndod complamts," observed the house, "of the Canadians before that august se- nate, were referred to a committee of the house -.a commons, indicated by the colonial minister, that crnrauee exhibiting a striking combination of talent and patriotism, uaitirg a gc* 14* > i > » ¥ ii 1 ■1*1 .1.1 :,({»« m 'U k i\^ iV L^ it J tiW i if; n' 158 THE BUBBLES ■r y% neral knowledge of public and constitutional law to a particu- lar acquaintance with the state of both the Canades, formally applauded almost all the reforms which the Canadian people and their representatives demanded and still demand. After a solemn investigation, after deep and prolonged deliberation, llio committee made a report, an imperishable monument of Jlieir justice and profound wisdom, an authentic testimonial of the reality of our grievances, and of the justice of our com- plaints, faithfully interpreting our wishes and our wants. Through this report, so honourable to its authors, his Majesty's jqovernmcnt has become bettor than ever acquainted with the true situation of this province, and can better than ever reme- (iy existing grievances and obviate difficulties for tlie future."' Jianguagc more comprclicnsive or emphatic could not have iieon found, in which to record the acceptance by tiie house of tissembly, of the report of 182S, as t!ie basis on which they uere content to proceed for the adjustment of all differences. Tiie questions in debate became thenceforth, by the common »?on5cnt of both parlies, reducible to tiie simple inquiry whe- ;i:er the British government had, to the fullest extent of their inwful authority, faithfully carried the recommendations of the (jommittceof 1S2S into execution. On a review of all the subsequent correspondence. Lord Aberdeen finds himself entitled to state that, in conformity witii the express injunctions, and the paternal wishes of the iving, his Majesty's confidential advisers have carried into oomplcto effect every suggestion oftcred lor tlicir guidance by ilie committee of the house of commons. It is necessary to verify this statement by a careful and mi- nute comparison between the advice received, and the mea- sures adopted. To avoid the possibility of error, the succes- sive recommendations of the committee of 1828 shall be tran- .-.cribed at length, willi no other deviation than that of changing ihe order in which the topics ore successively arranged in their report, an order dictated by considerations of an acci- dental and temporary nature, but otherwise inconvenient, as postponing many of the weightier topics to some of compara- tively light importance. First, then,, the report of 1828 contains the following advice M'^t.. 1 OF CANADA. 150 of the Canada committee on the subject of finance — "Al- though from the opinion given by the law officers of the crown, your committee must conclude that the legal right of appro- priating the revenues arising from the act of 1774 is vested in the crown, thoy are prepared to say that the real interests of the provinces would be best promoted by placing the receipt and expenditure of the wl)ole public revenue under the super- intendence and control of the house of assembly." " If the officers above enumerated are placed on the footing recom- mended," (that is, in a state of pecuniary independence on the assembly) "your committee are of opinion that all the revenues of the province, except the territorial and hereditary revenues should be placed under the control and direction of the legisla- tive assembly." The strict legal right of tlic crown to appropriate the pro- ceeds of the statute 14 G. 111., c. S8, being thus directly main- tained, the renunciation of that rigiit was recommended, on condition that " the governor, the members of the executive council, and the judges, should be made independcntof the an- nual votes of the house of assembly fur their respective sala- ries." What then has been the result] His Majesty has re- nounced these; his acknowledged legal rightiJ, but has not stipulated for tlio performance, on tlie part of the assembly, of the condition thus imposed upon them, and, to the present mo- ment, that condition remains unfultilied. By the British statute 1 &. 2 W. IV., c. 7J3, which was introduced into parliament by his Majesty's then confidential advisers, the appropriation of the revenues of the 14 G. HI., is transferred to the assea)bly absolutely, and without either that qualification wiiich the committee proposed, or any other. Here, then, it cannot be denied that their advice has been followed, not only with im- plicit deference, but in a spirit of concession which they did not contemplate. Secondly. On the subject of the representation of the peo- ple in Lower Canada, the opinion of the committee was ex- pressed in the following terms: — "Your committee are now desirous of adverting to the representative system of Lower Canada, with respect to which, all parties seem to agree that some change should take place." After detailing the various- Ifrf' '.■ ( 1 ' ■>.K 1 ^ 1.1 *, ;■ '. 1 i \ fi ^ / 1 r ' ( i^ fl >>1 160 THE BUBBLES causes which had led to an inequality in the number of the members of the assembly in favour of the French inhabitants of the seigniories, and therefore to the prejudice of the inhabi- tants of English origin in the townships, the committee passed from the subject with the following general remark. " in pro- viding a representative system for the inhabitants of a country which is gradually comprehending within its limits newly peo- pled and extensive districts, great imperfections must necessa- rily arise from proceeding in the first instance on the basis of population only. In Upper Canada, a representative system has been founded on the compound basis of territory aud popu- lation. Tliis principle, we tiiink, might be advantageously adopted in Lower Canada." It was with tlic entire concurrence of his Majesty's govern- ment, that the legislature of Lower Canada assumed to them- selves the duty of giving effect to this part of the advice of the committee. That report had laid down the general principle that, with one exception, "all changes, if possible, be carried into effect by the local legislature tliemselves;" and to that principle the ministers of the crown adhered, even in a case where the dominant majority of the assembly had an interest directly opposed to tliat of the great body of English inhabi- tants, for whose special relief the new representation bill was to be enacted. Such a bill was accordingly passed, and was reserved for the signification of his Miijcsty's pleasure. It ac- tually received the royal assent, and is, at this day, the law of the province. In this case, also, the concessions made to the Canadian in- habitants of French origin were far greater than the authors of the report of 1828 could have had in contemplation. The Upper Canadian principle of combining territory and popula- tion, as the basis of elective franchise, was not adopted in Lower Canada: the assembly substituted for it a new division of the country, of wiiich the effect lias been to increase rather tlian to diminish the disproportion between the number of mem- bers returned bv the English and those representing the French Canadian interest. This result of the bill was distinctly fore- seen by the official advisers of the crown, and it became the subject of grave deliberation whether h's Majesty should be ad- OF CANADA. 161 vised to acquiesce in a scheme which followed the advice of tlie Canada committee, so fur indeed as to effect a material change in the reprcsentntivo body, and so far as to give to the English settlers a few L-.oro voices in the assembly, but not so far as to secure to them any additional weight in the delibera- tions of that house. It is not within the object of this minute to defend or to explain the motives of the ultimate decision in favour of the bill. For the present purpose it is enough to say, that the acceptance of it gave to the Canadians of French ori- gin far more than the report of 1828 authorized them to ex- pect. Tliirdly. Inferior only in importance to the topics already noticed, is that of the independence of the judges, respecting which tlu! following passage may be extracted from the report of 1^28 : — " On the other hand, your committee, while recom- mending such a concession on the part of the crown," (the concession, that is, of the revenue,) "are strongly impressed with the advantage of rendering the judges independent of the annual votes of the house of assembly for their respective salaries. Your committee are fully aware of the objections in principle, which may bo fairly raised against the practice o voting permanent salaries to the judges who are removable at the pleasure of the crown; but being convinced that it would be inexpedient that the crown should be deprived of the power of removal; and having well considered the public inconve- nience which might result from their being left in depen- dence on the annual vote of the assembly; they have deckled to make the recommendation, in their instance, of a permanent vote of salary." Thus the Canada committee of 1828 were of opinion that the judges ought to be independent of the assembly for their incomes, but ought to continue liable to removal from office at the pleasure of the Crown. Yet so far have the British go- vernment been from meting out relief to the province grudging- ly, or in any narrow spirit, that they have left nothing unat- tempted which could secure to the judges, not merely that pecuniary independence which the committee advised, but that independent tenure of office also, which their report expressly dissuaded. In the adjacent province of Upper Canada, both ob- ^ -f" ft i.. :, 1 1 1 in- i 1 y Pi ■M'r 1G2 THE BUBBLES jccts liave been happily accomplished. In his despatch of tiic 8th February, 1831, No. XXII., the Earl of Ripon explained to Lord Aylmcr the course of proceeding wlucli had been adopt- ed for asserting the independence of tiie judges in tliis king- dom, and signified to the governor his Majesty's commands to avail himself of the earliest opportunity for proposing to the legislative council and assembly of Lower Canada, the enact- ment of a bill declaring that the commissions of all the judges of the supreme courts should be granted to endure their good behaviour, and not during the royal pleasure; and Lord Ayl- mer was farther instructed, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, to assent to a bill for carrying that oViject into ef- fect. Lord Ripon, however, declared it to be, of course, an essential condition of this arrangement, that "an adequate and permanent provision should be made for the judges." It re- mains to state the result. A bill was passed by the house of assembly, by which, indeed, the tenure of the judicial office was made to depend on the good behaviour of tiic judges, and by which a provision, adequ .ic in amount, was made for them. But that provision was so granted as to be liable to be di- minished or taken away by the annual votes of the house of assehiljly. To this measure, so popular in its general charac- ter or pretensions, were also " tacked " (to adopt the usual parliamentary phrase) clauses by which a right to dispose of the territorial revenue of the Crown was assorted, and by which all the public officers in the colony, — the governor himself not being expressly excepted — wore made amenable to a tribunal, to be constituted for the trial of all impeachments preferred by the representatives of the pfople. Such was the return made to an act of grace, which the Canada Committee themselves hud expressly dissuaded. To have acquiesced in it would have involved a sacrifice of whatever is due to the dignity of the King, and to the liberties of his Majesty's sub- jects. His Majesty's assent was, therefore, witliholdcn, though not without the expression of the deepest regret, and the most distinct offer to assent to any other bill for establishing the in- dependence of the judges which should be exempt from such objections. The house of assembly, however, have never since OF CANADA. 163 tendered an act of that nature for the acceptance of his Majes- ty, or of his Majesty's representative in the province. Fourthly. The next topic is that of the composition of the legislative and executive councils, respecting which the fol- lowing suggestions occur in the report of 1828 ; — " One " (it is said) "of the most important subjects to which their inquiries have been directed, has been the state of the legislative coun- cils in both the Canadas, and the manner in which ihcse assem- blies have answered the purposes for which they were insti- tuted. Your committee strongly recommend that a more in- dependent character should be given to these bodies; that the majority of their members should not consist of persons holding offices at the pleasure of the Crown; and that any other mea- sures that may tend to connect more intimately this branch of the constitution with the interest of the colonies, would be at- tended with tlie greatest advantage. With respect to the judges, witii the exception only of the chief justice, whose presence on particular occasions might be necessary, your committee entertain no doubt that they had better not be in- volved in the political business of the house. Upon similar grounds, it appears to your committee that it is not desirable that judges should hold seats in the executive council." With what scrupulous exactness these recommoiidations have been followed, will now be shown. With respect to the judges, Lord Ripon, in the despatch of the 8th of February al- ready quoted, conveyed to Lord Aylmer his Majesty's com- mands to signify to the legislative council and assembly, hid Majesty's settled purpose to nominate, on no future ocoasion, any judge as a member, either of the executive or of the legis- lative council of tiie province. It was added, that the single exception to that general rule would be, tliat the chief justice of Quebec would be a member of the legislative council, in order that the members of that body might have the benefit of his assistance in framing laws of a general and permanent cha- racter. But his Majesty declared his purpose to recommend, even to that high officer, a cautious abstinence from all pro- ceedings, by which he might be involved in any political con- tentions of a party nature. U was not in tiie power of the Kmg's government to remove -■\ 11 ':^1' i,:!l, ' I m ,. w 164 THE BUBBLES from the legielative council any of llio judges who had already been appointed to be members of that body ; because the terms of the constitutional act secure to them the enjoyment of their seats for life. But in a private despatch of the same date, the four gentlemen who had at that time combined the judicial character with seats in the council, were earnestly exhorted to resign their places as counsellors, and were assured that no- thmg should be wanting to rescue them from any possibility of misconstruction, as to the motives by which that advice iiad been dictated or obeyed. In point of fact, it was not accepted : but the judges unanimously agreed to withdraw from all active interference in the business of the council, and have never since attended its sittings. The ciiief justice, indeed, as was recommended by the Canada comniittoe, forms the single e.v- ception; but even that gentleman, aa far as the information of this office extends, has confined iiis interference within the li- mits prescribed to him by the comtniltec and by the Earl of Ripon. The principles laid down by the committee of 18'28, for re- gulating the composition of the legislative council, have been not less strictly pursued, in every other respect. Since the date of their report, eighteen new members have been ap- pointed. Of that number there is not one who holds any office or place of emolument at the pleasure of the crown, or who is in any other manner dependent upon the favours of his Majes- ty, or his official advisers. Of the eighteen new members, ten are of French origin. The total number of counsellors is thir- ty-five, of whom only seven hold public offices. Amongst them is the bishop of Quebec, who is, in the fullest sense of the term, independent of the crown. The chief justice, whose depen- dence is altogether nominal, is another. Of the whole body of thirty-five members, there remain, therefore, but five over whom the executive government can, with any reason or plausibility, be said to possess any direct influence. It is, therefore, not without a reasonable confidence, that tiie words in which the committee of 1828 suggest the proper com- position of the legislative council, may be adopted as precisely descriptive of the manner in which it is actually composed. " A more independent character " has been given to that body. \m. OF CANADA. 1G5 Tho "majority of the members" docs not consist of persons liolding office at the pleasure of tiie crown." This branch of the constitution has been connected "more intimately with the interests of the province," by the addition of a large body of independent Canadian gentlemen. But the case may be carried still farther, and it may be shown that, in respect to tho councils, the efforts of Lord Aberdeen's predecessors have loft behind them the advice of the Canada committee. The executive council has also been strengthened by the addition of three members of French ori- gin. A seat was offered to Mr. Neilson, the most prominent of the delegates from the house of assembly of 1828, and to M. Papineau, the speaker of that house. It need scarcely be said that it was impossible to give a more decisive proof of the wish of the ministers of the crown, tiiat the composition of the Ca- nadian council should be acceptable to the great majority of the people. Fifthly. The next in order of the recommendations of that committee relates to the clergy reserves, a subject on whicii they employed the following language: — "As your committee entertain no doubt that the reservation of these lands in mort- main is a serious obstacle to the improvement of the colony, they think every proper exertion should be made to place them in the hands of persons who will perform upon them the du- ties of settlement, and bring them gradually into cultivation." Although the views of tiie committee were thus limited to the improvement of the clergy reserves, the government ad- vanced to the redress of tlie evil indicated in the report, by a meosure, not only fur more decisive, but eminently remarkable for the confidence it expressed in the provincial legislature. The constitutional act Iiaving authorized his Majesty, with the advice of tiie legislative council and assembly, to vary or re- peal any of the provisions therein made for the allotment and appropriation of lands for the support of the Protestant clergy, Lord Ripon, availing himself of that enactment, proposed that the power of repeal should be exercised by those bodies, and should be accompanied with a declaration that the reserved lands should merge in the general demesne of the crown. The object of this proposal was to bring the reserves within tho 15 "fi, '>- 160 THE BUBBLES reach of the general rules, under which all the waste lands of the province are progressively sold to the highest bidder. To prevent any possible misconception of the views of his Ma- jesty's government, the draft of a bill for the accomplishment of this design was transmitted to Lord Aylmer, with instruc- tions to give ills assent if such a law should be presented for his acceptance. To obviate the risk of olTenco being given, by suggesting to the house of assembly the exact language as well ns the general scope of a measure to originate with them, Lord Aylmer was directed to proceed with ti>e most cautious observance of the privileges of that body, and of all the consti- tutional forms. Anticipating the contingency of the measure being adopted in substance, but with variations in the terms. Lord llipon farther etatcd that, in that event, the bill was not to be rejected by the governor, but was to bo specially re- served for the signification of iiis Majesty's pleasure. In obedience to these directions, the bill was introduced into- tlie house of assembly, but did not pass into a law. Tliat it would liave effectually removed tlie grievance pointed out by the Canada committee, has not been disputed ; nor can the mi- nisters of tlie crown be held in any sense responsible for the continuance of an evil for which they had matured so complete n remedy. The only explanation which has ever been given of the failure of the proposal is, that the solicitor-general, Mr. Ogden, had used some expressions, whence it was inferred that Ills Majesty's government would reject the bill if altered in a single word. It is scarcely credible, that this should be an ac- curate surmise of the real cause of the lose of the Clergy Lands Appropriation Bill. It is not to be believed that the as- sembly of Lower Canada would have rejected an unobjection- able proposal for the redress of a grievance of which complaint iiad been long and loudly made, for no other reason than that a public officer, not of the highest rat^k or consideration, had used some casual expression, in which the ultimate views of his Majesty's advisers were inaccurately explained. T the governor application could have immediately been made, for more authentic information; and, in fact, the tenour of the de- spatch which had been received by Lord Alymer, was perfect- ly well known throughout the province to every person who OF CANADA. 1G7 lijlt any interest in the subject. Tlic measure has never since been revived ; and it must be tlicret'ore assumed, that the assembly are less anxious than Lord Ripon supposed, for the removal of this obstruction to agriculture and internal im- provement. Be that as it may, the British government aro completely absolved from the rcponsibility thrown upon them hy this part of the report of the Canada committee. »Si,\thIy. That body proceeding to other subjects connected with the wild lands of the province, expressed their opinion that — "It might be well for the goveriuncnt to consider who- Iher the crown reserves could not bu pcnnanonlly alienated, subject to some fixed modorato reserved payment, either iii money or in grain, as might be demanded, to arise out of the iirst ten or fitleen years of occupation." Tiioy add, that " they arc not prepared to do more tlian oiler this suggefction, whicli appears to them to be worthy of more con.sidoraliou than it b- in their power to give to it; but that in this or in some tsucla mode, they arc fully persuaded the lands thus reserved, ouj;lil, without delay, to be permanently disposed of." In pureuanccofthic advice, Lord Ripon directed the sale of the M'own reserves throughout the province, as opportunity miglit ofler, precisely in the same manner as any otlier part of thu royal demesne. The system has undergone an entire ciuuigo . and the crown reserves considered as distinct allotments, left in their wild state to draw a progrei.sive-increasing value from the improvement of the vicinity, have no logger any existence. Seventhly. Another abuse connected with the wild lands of Lower Canada was noticed by the committee, in the following- language: — "One of the obstacles which is said greatly to im- pede the improvement of the country, is the practice of making- grants of land in large masses to individuals, who had held otTi- cial situations in the colony, and who had evaded the condi- tions of the grant by which they were bound to provide for its cul- tivation, and now wholly neglect it. Although powers have been lately acquired by the government to estreat those lands, and although we think that, under certain modifications, this power may be advantageously used, we are, nevertheless, of opinioa that a system should be adopted similar to that of Upper Cana^ f;i .. . i; * ■ L 1 Kt ' •'>' til 168 TIIK BUnnLES r w ■} m ji 1 1 ti n II |i II da, by the levy of a small annual duty on lands remaining un- improved and unoccupied contrary to the conditions of the grant." The remedial measure of a tax on wild land, which is sug- gested in the preceding passage, could, of course, originate only with the representatives of the people, and tlie house of assem- bly have not indicated any disposition to resort to that mode of taxation. To such a bill, if tendered by them, his Majesty's assent would have been chccvfully given. Yet the King's go- vernment did not omit to avail thcinsolves of all those reme- dial powers with which the Crown is intrusted. It is little to say (though it may be stalrd with the strictest truth,) tluit since the date of the report, tlio system reprobated by the com- mittee, of granting land in large masses to individuals, has been entirely discontinued. It is more material to add, that this cliangc in practice is the result of a series of regulations established, on Lord llipnn's advice, in Lower Canada, and in- deed throughout all the ot'icr llritisli colonies. The system of gratuitous dnnaticui- of laii ; has been abandoned absolutely and universally; and during the last three years all such property has bccndispoi^od of by I'ublic auction to the highest bidder, olsuch a minimuic price ns to ensure the public at large against the waste of this resource by nominal or fictitious sales. This is not the occasion for vindicating the soundness of that policy, which, however, if necessary, it would not be hard to vindicate. It is sufficient for the immediate purpose of this miiuUc to have shown, tliat on this, as on other topics, the ministers of the Cro'vn did not confine themselve.-- n) a servile adiierencc to the move letter of the parliamentary recommendation, but em- braced and gave the fullest effect to its genuine spirit. Eighthly. The committee sought to relieve the province not only from the evils of improvident reservations and grants of wild laiiils, but from those incident to the tenures on which the cultivated districts arc holden. The following passages on this subject appear in ♦heir report: — "They do not decline to offer as their opinion, that it would be advantageous, that the declaratory enactment in the Tenures Act, respecting lands held in free and common soccage, should be retained." " Your committee are farther of opinion that means should be OF CAN' ADA. 1G9 found of brinfjing into cfl'ectivc operation tho clause in tlic Te- tiurcs Act, which provides for the mutation of tenure : and tlioy entertain no doubt of the inexpediency of retaining the seig- neurinl rights of tho crown, in the hope of deriving a profit from tliern. The sacrifice on tho part of the crouri would be trifling, and would bear no proportion to the benefit that would result to the colony from such a concession." "The commit- tee cannot too strongly expross their opinion, that the Cana- dians of Frencli extraction should in no degree be didtiirboa in the peaceful enjoyment of their religion, laws, and privileges?, as secured to them by tho I'rilith acts of parliament; and so far from requiring them to hold lands on the Uritish tenure, they think that when the lands in the scignouries arc fully oc- cupied, if the descendants of tho original settlers shall still re- tain their preference to the tenure of Jirf ct licigufitric, they see no objoction to other portions of unoccupied landrf in the province being granted to 'hem on that tenure, provided that such lands are apart from, and not intermixed with, the town- ships." The British government are again entitled to claim the cre- dit of having, to the utmost possible extent, regulated their conduct by the language, and still more by the spirit of this advice. No application has been made for the creation of a new iseigneurie, as indeed the period contemplated by the commit- tee, when the seigneuriul lands would be fully occupied, still seems very remote. It is almost superfluous to add, that no attempt has been made to superinduce upon those lands any of the rules of the law of England. Tho crown also lias been prompt to bring into the most ef- fective operation the clause of the Canada Tenures Act which provides for the mutation of tenures. But no lord or censi- taire having hitherto invoked the exercise of the powers of the Crown, they have of necessity continued dormant. Re- specting the eoccagc lands, some explanation seems neces- sary. The general principle adopted by the committee in the pas- sago already quoted, is that the inhabitants, both of French and of British origin, should respectively be left in the enjoy- 15* t ■I' I ■1 1 !■ 1 i.i 1 ': < 1 ' " < !i ^r:i ■.'Jf 170 TUB DURKLES mcnt of tlio law regulating the tenures of their lands derived from their difTercnt ancestors, and endeared to either party, by habit, if not by national prejudices. It has already been shown that the French Canadians have enjoyed the benefit of this princifde to the fullest possible extent. In the anxiety which has been felt tu nfratify their wishes, it may not be quite clear that equal justice lias been rendered to the inhabitants of Bri- tish descent. The maintenance of so niucli of the Canada Tenures Act as rendered the soccago lanu.^ inheritable and transmissible according' to En^jflish law, was most unequivocal* ly recommended in the extracts already mode from the report. The provincial legislature, however, in their session of ISiiU, made provision for the conveyance of such lands in a manner repugnant to this British statute. Of course his Majesty could not bo advised to assent to a law which directly contravened an act of parliament. Such, however, was the anxiety of the King's ministers to avoid every needless cause of jealousy, thnt a bill (1 VV. IV,, c. 2i)) was introduced into pailiatnrnt by Lord Hipon, and passed into a law, in order to relieve his Majesty from this difficulty. The Canadian Act was then accepted. Nur was this all. Striving to multiply, to the utmost possible extent, every proof and cxjjression of respect and confidence towards tiie provincial legislntnrn, the government introduced into the British statute, which has been last mentioned, a farther enact- ment, of which tiio eflbct was to absolve the Canadian legisla- ture in future from every restraint laid upon them, by any act of parliament regulating the various incidents of the soccage tenure in the province. The barriers erected for the defence of the British settlers by tlic caution of parliament in the years 1791 and lH'2(i were thus overthrown, in order that there might be the fewest possible exceptions to the principle of con- fiding to the Canadian legislature, the regulations of the in- ternal interests of Lower Canada. No one will deny that this unsolicited concession was made in the spirit of the most large and liberal acceptance of the advice of the Canada committee, so Ibr at least as the views and interests of the dominant majority f the house of assembly are concerned. Ninthly. The next is the subject of the Jesuits' estates; in reference to which the views of the committee of 1828 are ex- OF CANADA. 171 proBSod as follows:— With respect to the estates which former' ly belonged to tliu Jesuits, your conimiltco lament that tiicy have not more full information. But it nppcars to them to be desirable that the piocceils should bo applied to the purposes of general education. Far indeed beyond the letter of tliid advice did the conccb- sions moilo by his Mnjcsty, on tho advice of I/)rd Ripon, pro- ceed. Not only svoro tho Josuits' cttatcs "op|)licd to tho pur- poses of goncrnl education," but tho provincial Icyislaturc were authorized to detcrniino what specific purposes of that kind should be preferred, niid tho proceeds of tho estates were placed for that purpose unreservedly under their control. No suggestion has been made inipcuchini,' the fulness of this con- cession, except as lur ua respects certain buildings occupied for half a century past ns barracks. Even if a rent sliould bo payable by tlic Crown for tho use of Ihoao bnrracks, (tho sin- gle question ndniilting of debate,) it would be idle, on thot ground, to deny eitiier the iniportuncc of the conccasion made, or tho almost unbounded confidence in the house of assembly, perceptible in the form and manner in which the crown re- nounced to thcii), not merely a proprietary right, but even an administrativo function. Tenlhly. To tlio pohilivc rcconiniondations which have al- ready been considered, succeeds nnotlicr, of which tho end is rather to dissuade than to odviscj tho adoption of any speci- fic measure. "The conmiittec (it is said) arc desirous of re- cording the principle which, in their judgment, should be ap- plied to any alterations in the constitutions of tho Cunadas, which were imparted to them under the formal act of tho Bri- tish legislature of 1791. That principle is to limit the altera- tions which it may be desirable to make, by any future British Acts, as far as possible, to such points as, from the relation be- tween the mother country and the Canados, can only be dis- posed of by the paramount authority of the British legislature, and they are of opinion that all other changes should, if possi- ble, be carried into effect by the local legislature themselves, in amicable communications with the local government. So rigidly has this principle been observed, that of two acts of parliament which, since 1821, have been passed with refe- it w Hi i 'f i i I -if. if ■' ■■;,'! m m THE BUBBLES i rence to the internal concerns of the province, the common object has been so to enlarge the authority of the provincial legislature as to enable his Majesty to make witii their con- currence, laws to the enactment of which they were positively incompetent. The acts in question are tiiose already noticed, by which the revenues of Geo. III. were relinquished, and the regulation of soccage tenures was transferred to the governor, council, and assembly. Eleventhly. " The committee" (agaih to borrow their own words) " recommended, for the future, that steps sliould be taken by official securities, and by a regular audit of accounts, io prevent the recurrence of losses and inconveniences to the province, similar to those which had occurred in Mr. Cald- well's case," and " as connected with this branch of the in- quiry, they recommended that precautions of the same nature should be adopted with regard to the sheriffs." In reference to these suggestions. Sir George Murray pro- posed to the house of assembly, and Lord Ripon repeated the proposal, that the public accountants sliould pay their balances, at very short intervals, into the hands of the commissary-ge- neral, tendering the security of tlie B itish treasury for the liunclual re-payment of all such dcpositcs. The scheme em- braced a plan for a regular audit, and for the punctual demand of adequate securities. Sir James Kempt and Lord Aylmer were successively instructed to propose to the legislative coun- cil and assembly tlie enactment of such a law. The proposal was accordingly made to the assembly in the year 1829, and was rcpoated in tlie year 1832. On each occasion it was the pleasure of the house to pass it by in silence. That they had good reasons for their conduct, it would be unjust and indeco- rous to doubt. Thos;; reasons, however, remain to this moment completely unknown to the executive government, who, having exhausted all their authority and influence in a fruitless attempt to give effect to this part of the Canada committee's recom- mendations, cannot, with any reason, be held responsible if they fitill have failed to produce the advantage contemplated to the province at large.* * Tlie executive governmeot have not, however, abstained from such mea- sures as were witJiin their own power. They have established a tire-proof OF CANADA. ll'S Twelftlily. A farther recommendation of the couiniiitce is conveyed in the report, in the following terms: "Your com- mittee also bog leave to call the particular attention of the go- vernment to the mode in which juries are composed in the Ca- nadas, vvitii a view to remedy any defects tliat may be found to exist in the present system." Here, again, the government pressed upon the house of as- sembly the importance of giving eflcct to the views of the committee; and, in fact, a law has received the royal assent, having for its object the improvement of the jury system — an object which has been pursued by those methods which the house of assembly tiiemselves devised or adopted. Thirteenthly. The report proceeds to recommend, "that the prayer of the Lower Canadians for permission to appoint an agent, in the same manner as agents arc appointed by other colonies whicii possess local legislatures, should be granted." His Majesty's government have accordingly repeatedly au- thorized the governor to assent to any bill which might be passed for that purpose. Ko such bill has, hovvevcr> been pre- sented for Lord Aylmer's acceptance. The assembly, in oppo- sition to the advice of the committee, that the ha'>its of other colonies should be followed as a precedent, have chosen to no- minate, by resolutions of that house alone, gentlemen deputed to represent them in this kingdom, but who have not, as in other colonies possessing legislative assembles, been appointed by an act of the entire legislature. Fourteenthiy. Upon the most careful perusal of the report of 1828, no other recommendations can be found addressed lo the King's government, although the committee, addressing themselves in that instance rather to the local legislature, have vault, with three keys, held by three separate oflicers of high rank, all of whom must be present wliciiKVcr it is opened : and they haw provided that the receiver-general sliall noi hold in his hands any balance exceeding X10,00(i without depositing it in this vault ; and that once at least in every year the contents of the vault simll be inspected, er reported on, by five persons named hy the governor for the purpose. They have also taken security from the re- ceiver-general to the extent of jEIO.OOO, with two sufficient sureties, and have required him to render statements of his accounts on the 1st January, 1st April, Isl July, and 1st October, in every year. i t; . It '■ 'it i .;: M- '/■ rv' I! M 'f '.it?- 'til. If' ■' ih 174 THE BUBBLES ■I liPr I" advised that mortgages should be special, and that in proceed- ings for the conveyance of lands, the simplest and least expen- sive forms of conveyance should be adopted, upon the princi- ples of the law of England; that form which prevails in Up- per Canada, being probably, under all circumstances, the best which could be selected; and that the registration of deeds re- lating to soccago lands, should be established as in Upper Ca- 'nada. "In addition," it is added, " to those recommendations, it appears to be desirable that some competent jurisdiction should be established, to try and decide causes arising out of this description of property;" (lint is the soccago lands) "and that circuit courts should be instituted witliin the townsiiip? for the same purposes." In these passages the design of the committee was to admi- nister to the relief of the settlers of Knglisli origin, and their claims were pressed, by Sir George Murray, on tiic attention of the assembly. Some advance has been accordingly made towards the establishment of a registry of deeds, and of local courts in the townships. Respecting the law of mortgages, and the forms of conveyancing, it docs not appear that tlie as- sembly have hitiierto interposed for the relief of tliat part of the constituent body. Concluding at this point the comparison between the advice tendered to the government, and the measures adopted in pur- suance of it, it may be confidently asserted, that the general statement made at the commencement of tliis minute has been substantiated. To the utmost limit of their constitutional powcrand legitimate influence, successive administrations have earnestly and successively laboured to carry the report of i*?2?-* into complete effect in all its parts. It has already been shown with how cordial an acquiescence that report was re- ceived by the house of assembly, with what liberal eulogies the talent, the patriotism, the knowledge, and intimate ac- quaintance with Canadian alFairp, of its authors, were com- mended ; how that document was hailed as the faithful inter- pretation of the wishes and wants of the Canadian people; and liov/ the British government were called upon by the house of assembly to look to that report as their guide in remedying ex- }£ting grievances, and obviating difficulties for the future. lave of )L'cn rc- ogics c ac- com- inter- ; and se nf ir ex- o iture, OF CANADA. 175 That this guide should have been studiously followed, that its suggestions should have been invariably construed and en- forced, with no servile adherence to the letter, but in the most liberal acceptance of its prevailing spirit, and yet that such efforts should have been unavailing to produce tiic expected conciliation, may well justify the deepest regret and disappoint- ment. (Signed) Aberdeen. The perusal of this triumphant document naturally suggests two reflections: first, that the faithful exe- cution of the recommendations of the committee is much more entitled to our approbation than the re- commendations themselves; and, secondly, that the Canadian assembly were not to be satisfied with any ffmcession whatever, short of independence. Jit m\V 17fl THE liUBCLES LETTER IX. li'/ V' As the memorials adtlrosscd to government by tiic English and French parties were at variance In eve- ry material point, a commission of inquiry, of which the governor, Lord Gosford, was head, was sent out to Canada in 1835. Whether this commission was necessary or not, is a matter with which I have no- thing to do; I merely mention the fact as illustrative of the earnest desire that existed to compose these unfortunate difficulties, and to ascertain on the spot how much of concession could he made, consistently with retaining the sovereignty of the country. The commissioners were told *' Your investigations will have for their common object the advancement of the welfare and prosperity of Lower Canada by all methods compatible with the integrity of the empire, and with the authority of the King as supreme in all parts of the Brit.ijn dominions. " You will ever bear in mind that you are sent on a mission of peace and conciliation. You will there- fore proceed in a spirit not of distrust, but of confi- dence; remembering that much of your success will depend, not only on the zeal, ability, and fairness of your inquiries, but also on your perfect separation from all local and party disputes, and on the unques- tionable frankness and impartiality of your general conduct. " You will observe, that the legislature of Lower Canada must ultimately be the instrument through cula uttei the; poss the also! OF CANADA. 177 which any benefits resulting from your mission must, to a very great extent, be accomplished. His Majesty disclaims the intention of provoking any un- necessary parliamentary interference in the internal affairs of the province. To mediate between ad- verse parties, with an entire respect for the constitu- tional rights common to them all, is the high office appropriate to his royal station, and this function the King, aided by your inquiries and advice, is anxious on the present occasion to perform." The governor was told by Lord Cxlenelg, " your lordship therefore proceeds to Canada to advocate no British interest, and to secure no selfish ends. To " maintain the peace and integrity of the empire, and to mediate between contending parties, by whom those blessings have been endangered, is the high and honourable trust confided to you." Every thing that was tangible in the celebrated ninety-two resolutions, was put into shape, and sepa- rately commented upon for his guidance. 1. It is alleged, observes his Lordship, that the pa- tronage of his Majesty's government in Lower Ca- nada has been exercised in such a manner as to ex- clude the Canadians of French descent, not only from the larger number, but from all the more lucrative and honournble of the public employments in their native country.* * Had his Lordship thougl-t prop r to have entered Into parti- ctilars, he might have compiled the following table, to sho>^ how utterly false this accusation was. He might also have stated that the appointments contained in this table were made under every possible disadvantage, in consequence of the avowed hostility of the French to the government and institutions of the English, and also from the extreme difficulty of finding persons among them 16 H V. X "ii 'It ^'1 w fitf 178 THE BUBBLES The abuse of patronage is said to extend still far- ther; some persons are represented as having been preferred to ofHces, in performing the duties of which they are unable to communicate, except through an interpreter, with the great body of those with whom their affairs are to be transacted. Other successful candidates for office are represented as per- sons who have made themselves justly offensive to the house of assembly; while, on the other hand, employments created at the instance of that house with a view to public improvements, have, it is al- leged, been studiously denied to those whom the go- vernor had reason to believe would be most accepta- ble to the assembly. competent to discharge the duties assigned to them, and might have illustrated the last assertion by retei-ence to the fact that out of two grand juries at this time at Montreal, only one person was found that could write his name. Of the last seven hundred and thirty-eight appointments the proportion stood thus: — Of French origin . Of British and Foreign 557 181 • • Of French origin appointed: — To Legislative Council To Executive Council To other offices of profit 738 J. 18 5 29 [having held in all S5 of- — fices. Of British or Foreign appointed To the Legislative Council To the Gxectitive To olher office.. 52 persons. 11 8 18 [having held in all 22 of- fices. OP CANADA. 179 It would be scarcely possible to find any terms more emphatic than those employed by the Earl of Ripon, to enjoin the utmost impartiality in the dis- tribution of public offices in Lower Canada, without reference to national or political distinctions, or to any considertaion, except that of superior capacity and fitness for the trust. I adopt my predecessor's instructions in their fullest extent; I concur with him in thinking that personal merit and skill, or know- ledge, qualifying a candidate for the vacant trust, are the chief circumstances to which the governor of the province must have regard; and that in the distribu- tion of offices, it is impossible to adhere with any minute exactness to the rule which the numerical proportion subsisting between the two races might afford. But your lordship will remember that be- tween persons of equal or not very dissimilar pre- tensions, it may be fit that the choice should be made in such a manner as in some degree to satisfy the claims which the French inhabitants may reasona- bly urge to he placed in the enjoyment of an equal share of the royal favour. There are occasions also on which the increased satisfaction of the public at large with an appointment, might amply atone for some inferiority in the qualifications of the persons selected. To take the most efiectual security in his Majesty's power against the recurrence of any abuse in the exercise of this part of his delegated authority in Lower Canada, the King is pleased to command that, in anticipation of any vacancies which may oc- cur in the higher offices in that province, and espe- cially in all judicial offices, your lordship "should from time to time transmit to the Secretary of State, Ih fej ,: V . I'' I : 111 'II f-^'^. til I , ij '< \\ ■,^'\] jlfi.] 180 THE BUBBLES « III li It] IS i j ltd 4 *■ I ill '¥1 IHi for his Majesty's consideration, the names of any gentlemen resident in Lower Canada, whom you may think best qualified to perform such trusts with advantage to the public. His Majesty proposes to authorize the nomination, as opportunity may occur, of the persons so to be submitted for his choice, having regard to such representations as he may re- ceive from your lordship, or from any other ade- quate authorities respecting the competency of such persons to the public service. His Majesty is farther pleased to direct that all offices in the gift of the king, of which the emolument shall amount to or ex- ceed 200/. per annum, shall be granted under the public seal of the province, in pursuance of warrants to be issued by his Majesty for that purpose; and that, except when the successful candidate shall have been previously approved by his Majesty in the man- ner already mentioned, he should be informed that his appointment is strictly provisional, until his Ma- jesty's pleasure could be known. The control which it is thus proposed to establish over the hitherto un- limited powers of the governor, is not designed and will not be used as a means of securing to his Majes- ty's confidential advisers in this kingdom any bene- ficial patronage whatever. I have already expressed my entire approbation of the system hitherto ob- served, of considering public employments in Lower Canada as properly appropriate to the inhabitants of the province. Without giving a pledge against any deviation from that rule in any solitary case (for such pledge might in the event prove embarrassing to all parties, and prejudicial to the welfare of the province,) I can yet have no difficulty in acknowledging the I" ft'i OF CANADA. 181 rule as a general maxim from which no departure should be admitted, unless on grounds so peculiar as plainly to justify the exception. It has also been represented that in some cases the same individual is charged with numerous of- fices of which the duties are incompatible, either by creating a larger demand on the time of the of- ficer than any one man is able to meet, or by placing him in situations of which the appropriate functions clash and interfere with each other. From the generality of the terms in which this complaint has been made, it has not been in my power to ascertain the extent or reality of this grievance; but in whatever degree it may be found to exist, your lordship will understand that his Ma- jesty expects that it should be completely re- medied: that all persons occupying any such in- compatible employments should be called upon to renounce such as they cannot efiicienlly execute; and that in future the general rule must be, that no person should be intrusted with any office of which he cannot discharge the proper duties with due punctuality and method in his own person. 2. Complaint is made of an unjust partiality in favour of the use of the English language in all of- ficial acts. The foundation of this complaint ap- pears to be, that thirteen years ago a bill for the imion of the two Canadas was brought into Par- liament by the then government, which, had it passed into a law, would have made English the single official language of both. I have no motive for defending a scheme which was rejected by the house of commons. A case is also said to have IG* I" 11:1 182 THB DUBBLCS occurred at the distance of about eleven years since, in which the judges refused to entertain an action, because some part of the proceedings had been written in the French language. This i? ad- mitted to be an isolated case; and it is aoVnow- ledged that neither in the courts of law nor in the legislature is any preference of one language over the other reaHy shown. I therefore do not find any grievance on this subject susceptible of a remedy; nor is it in my power to strengthen the injunctions of Lord Ilipon, on the impropriety of any such pre- ference of the English over the French tongue. As, however, the complaint has been again urged by the house of assembly, your lordship will take the earliest opportunity of assuring ihem, that his Ma- jesty disapproves, and is desirous to discourage and prevent to the utmost of his power, the adoption of any practice which would deprive either class of his subjects of the use in their official acts of that tongue with which early habits and education may have rendered them most familiar. Your lordship will signify your willingness to assent to any law which may give, both to the French and the Eng- lish inhabitants, the most ample security against any such prejuoiice. 3. Reference has been made to certain rules of court made by the judges, of which the earliest have been in force for thirty-four years, and the latest for nineteen ; and which are said to be illegal ; and even to amount to a violation of the faith of treaties, and of the pledges of the King and parlia- ment. It is admitted, that until the year 1834, those rules had been followed, without any com- V "lilV iiili, or OAKADA. 183 plaint having been preferred to his Majesty's go- vernment: I can, indeed, undertake to say, that until the fact was stated in evidence before the Ca- nada committee of last year, (he existence of such rules was altogether unknown in this country. Here, as on so many other topics, I am compelled to revert to the instructions of the Earl of Ripon, and to instruct your lordship to renew the proposal which he authorized Lord Aylmer to make to the provincial legislature, that a commission should be appointed to revise any rules of court made by the judges; and that on the report of such a co' mission, all such rules as are either contrary to 1.. . or inex- pedient should be revoked. I am not less solicitous than my predecessor, that such an inquiry should be made to embrace all the practice and proceedings of the superior tribunals, with a view to rendering them more prompt and methodical, and less ex- pensive. If the house of assembly should think that these objects can be better effected by any other method than that of a commission of inquiry, you will concur with them in carrying it into eflfect. 4. It is said that exorbitant fees have been ex- acted in some public offices. I have met with no proof or illustration of this statement. You will, however, acquaint the house of assembly that his Majesty will be happy to concur with them in the revision of the fees of every office in thu province without exception, and in the appointment, should they think it expedient, of a commission of inquiry for the purpose. His Majesty has no wish on the subject, but that the remuneration of all public of- ficers, from the highest to the lowest, should be so M' M i ^^^< IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Iti|2j8 12.5 ^ Uii |22 u 140 J2j0 11:25 ||||U|J4 ^ 6" ► Hiotograiiiic ScMioes Corporalion as WBT MAIN STRUT WIISTIR,N.Y. MStO (716)173-4503 184 THB fiUBBLES regulated as to provide for the efficient discharge of the public service; au object which cannot be se- cured without a fair remuneration to the persons employed by the public. 5. A complaint is made of the practice of calling upon the judges for extra-judicial opinions on public questions. Here again I know not how to reduce the general statement to any specific form ; I can therefore advance no farther than to lay down, for your lordship's guidance, the general rule, «Hat you do not call upon the judges for their opinion on any question which, by the most remote possibility, may subsequently come before them for decision. I should scarcely hesitate to interdict the practice of consulting them, altogether and without a solitary exception, if I did not remember that there are public contingencies in which the King would, for the common good of his subjects, be bound to take counsel with his judges. Such casesi however, will be exceedingly infrequent, and will arise only upon some of those great emergencies for which it is scarcely possible, or even desirable, that any de- finite provision should be made beforehand. To protect the independent exercise of the judicial of- fice, not only against just censure, but even against the breath of suspicion, will be amongst your con- stant studies and most anxious endeavours. 0. Complaint is made of the interference of the government and the legislative council in the elec- tion of members of the assembly. With this gene- ral charge, I can deal only in terms equally gene- ral. If any such practice prevailed, of which, how- ever, there is no proof before me, your lordship will avoid with the utmost care every approach to it. I OF OAWADA. 185 acknowledgCi without any reserve or limitation, the duty of the executive government of Lower Canada to abstain altogether from interference, direct or in- direct, in the choice of the representatives of the people; such an encroachment on the principles of the constitution would be unattended even with a plausible prospect of temporary advantage. I earnestly hope that the assembly were misinformed as to the existence of any such practices; for I am well convinced, that it is by very difierent methods that the legitimate authority and influence of the King's government in Canada is to be maintained. 7. 1 have read, not without deep concern, the language in which the house of assembly have spoken, in their ninety-two resolutions, of the con- duct of the troops during the elections at Mon- treal : it is described as a sanguinary execution of the citizens by the soldiery. Anxious as I am to conciliate, by all just concessions the favourable re- gard of the house, I am bound, by the strict obli- gations of justice to the British army, to protest against the application of such language to any part of a body, not less distinguished by their hu- manity and discipline, than by their gallantry. The house had appointed a committee to inquire into those proceedings, and had not received the report of the committee when they proceeded to pro- nounce this censure on the conduct of his Majesty's troops. The officers had been indicted before a grand jury of the country, and the bills had been thrown out for want of evidence. In assuming to themselves the power to inquire, the assembly ex< ercised their legitimate privileges in passing a sen- tence of condemnation pending that inquiry, and in ,. !i • :.r ; ! r ! i- I lil ^L 186 THE BUBBLES direct opposition to the finding of the proper legal tribunal, they exceeded their proper authority, and acted in opposition to the parliamentary usages of this country. Nor can I receive such an unautho- rized expression of opinion with that deference which it is my duty^'and inclination to show for every judgment of the house, falling within the ap- propriate sphere of their deliberation. 8. The assembly farther complain that there is no method by which legal demands against the government can be enforced in the province. In the absence of any distinct proof or illustration of the fact, I can only express his Majesty's desire that effectual means may be taken for remedying this alleged defect in the law. 9. The too frequent reservation of bills for the sig- nification of his Majesty's pleasure, and the delay in communicating the King's decision upon them, is a grievance of which my inquiries lead me to be- lieve the reality. Your lordship will understand that the power of reserving bills, granted by the Constitutional Act of 1791, is an extreme right, to be employed not without much caution, nor ex- cept on some evident necessity. You will also have the goodness to remember the indispensable neces-- sity of transmitting, with the least possible delay, the transcript of every law of which the operation is suspended, for the signification of the royal pleasure; and of accompanying every such transcript with such full and minute explanations as may be neces- sary for rendering the scope and policy of them perfectly intelligible, and for explaining the motives by which your lordship may have been influenced in declining to give your decision in the first in- ri( OF CAIfADA. 187 Stance. You will pledge his Majesty's government in this country to the most prompt and respectful at- tention to every question of this nature which may be brought under their notice. 10. My predecessors in office are charged with having, on various occasions, neglected to convey to the house his Majesty's answers to the addresses presented to him by that body. Whether this state- ment could be verified by a careful examination of any particular cases, I am unable to state with certainty; nor on such a subject is it fit to make a conjectural statement. Your lordship will, how- ever, assure the house, that his Majesty has been pleased to command, in the most unqualified terms, that every communication that either branch of the provincial legislature may see fit to make to him, be laid before his Majesty immediately on its arri- val in this kingdom, and that his Majesty's answer be conveyed to the province with the utmost pos- sible despatch. The King cannot, however, forget that the delay which may occasionally have taken place in making known in the province his Majes- ty's decision upon reserved bills, or upon addresses from either house of general assembly, may in some instances have been either occasioned or prolonged by circumstances which no promptitude or zeal in his Majesty's service could have obviated ; as, for example, the rigour of the Canadian climate ob- structing, during a certain period of the year, the direct approach to Quebec and Montreal, and the imperfect nature of the internal communications through his Majesty's dominions in North Ame- . , U. Much complaint is made of the refusal of in- ; I I ! I I'll) %\ I m 'l|! !■>' *! i m 186 THE BUBBLES formation, for which the house of assembly have at different times applied to the governor of the pro- vince. After a careful examination of the proceed- ings of the latest session in which any such appli- cations were made, I have not been able to avoid the conclusion that there is just ground for the com- plaint. I do not perceive that any advantage would arise from entering in this place into a very exact survey of the communications between the house and the governor respecting the production of pa- pers. It is more useful, with a view to the future, to state the general principle by which your lord- ship will be guided. I think, then, that the corre- spondence between your lordship and the secretary of state cannot be considered as forming part of those documents of which the assembly are entitled to demand, as a matter of course, the unreserved and universal inspection or perusal. In the official intercourse between his Majesty and his Majesty's representative in the province, conducted as such intercourse necessarily is, through the intervention of the ministers of the crown, much confidential communication must necessarily occur. Many questions require to be debated copiously, and in all the various lights in which they may present them- selves to the governor or to the secretary of state: and in such a correspondence it is necessary to an- ticipate emergencies which eventually do not occur, to reason upon hypothetical statements, and even to advert to the conduct and qualifications for particu- lar employments of particular individuals. It would be plainly impossible to conduct any public aflfairs of this nature, except on such terms of free and un- restrained intercourse. It is no less plainly impossi- OF CANADA. 180 ble lo give general publicity to such communica- tions, without needless injury to the feelings of various persons, and constant impediment to the public service. A rule which should entitle a po- pular assembly to call for and make public all the despatches passing between the King's government and his Majesty's local representative, would so ob- struct the administration of public affairs, as to pro- duce mischiefs far outweighing the utmost possible advantage of the practice. In the same manner, there will occasionally be communications, in their own nature confidential, between the governor and many of his subordinate officers, which should also be protected from general publicity. But though I think it right to make this general reservation against the unlimited production of all public documents, I am ready to acknowledge that the restriction itself may admit and even require many exceptions; and that in the exercise of a care- ful discretion, the governor, as often as he shall judge it conducive to the general good of the pro- vince, may communicate to either branch of the legislature any part of his official correspondence, such only excepted as may have been expressly de- clared or manifestly designed, by the secretary of state, to be confidential. But I am not aware of any other document con- nected with the public affairs of the province, the concealment of which from the assembly would be really useful or justifiable ^ especially whatever re- lates to the revenue and expenditure in all their 17 ! I, ' I ■ 100 THE BUBBLES branches, or to the statistics of the province, should be at once and cheerfully communicated to them. For example, it will be desirable to make to the two houses such a communication of the blue books, or annual statistical returns, which are compiled for the use of this department; and your lordship will solicit the assistance of the two houses of the local legisla- ture, in rendering those returns as accurate and as comprehensive as possible. In short, the general rule must be that of entire freedom from reserve. The particular exception, as it arises, must be vindi- cated by the terms of the preceding instructions, or by some explanation sufficient to show that secrecy was demanded, not for the protection of any private interest, but for the well-being of the province at large. In every case in which the production of any paper, in answer to any address of either house, may be refused, your lordship will immediately transmit to this office a statement of the case, with an expla- nation of the grounds of your decision. 12. The occupation as a barrack of the buildings which anciently were part of the Jesuits' college, is strongly reprobated by the assembly. I can only re- mark that this exception from the general transfer of the Jesuits' estates to their disposal, was made and vindicated by Lord Hipon on a ground which has rather acquired a new force, than lost any of its ori- nal weight. After an occupation of those buildings for this purpose, for much more than half a century, there has accrued to the Crown a prescriptive title, of which, however, his Majesty has never sought to n- OF CANADA. 101 avail himself. The King is, on the contrary, anx- ious that the buildings should be restored, as prompt- ly as possible, to their original use; nor will that measure be delayed for a single day, after other and adequate provision shall have been made for the ac- commodation of the troops; but it is needless to re- mark that his Majesty has no funds at his disposal for that purpose. The proposed transfer of all the sources of local revenue to the house of assembly has deprived the King of the means of providing for this or any similar service. It must rest, therefore, with the house to erect or purchase other barracks suffi- ciently commodious for the garrison, upon whicli the board of ordnance will immediately issue the ne- cessary instructions for evacuating the buildings at present occupied for that purpose. 13. The lease of the forges of St. Maurice to Mr. Bell has been made, and is now irrevocable. I do not conceal my regret, that this property was not disposed of by public auction to the highest bidder. Whatever arrangements may be hereafter settled re • specting the territorial revenue, it will be necessary to prevent the granting of any crown property on lease in the same manner by private contract, and more especially when the contractor is a member of the legislative council. 14. Impediments are said to have been needlessly raised to the endowment of colleges by benevolent persons. I fear it is not to be denied, that some un- necessary delay in deciding upon bills reserved for bis Majesty's consideration, having such endow- n . o iv' .., ^> 192 THE BUBBLES merits for their object, did occur: a dday chiefly at- tributable to political erents and tke coneequent changes of the colonial administpation in this king- dom. I have no wish to withhold a frank acknow- ledgment of error, when really due, to the house of assembly, because I am persuaded that in that frank- ness they will perceive the best assurance of the sin- cerity with which, on behalf of the ministers of the crown, a pledge is given for the more prompt and exact attention hereafter to every measure which has for its object the institution in the province of any colleges or schools for the advancement of Chris- tian knowledge or sound learning. 15. On the subject of the clergy reserves, of which complaint is slill made, the arrangements proposed by Lord Ripen leave his Majesty nothing farther to concede. The whole question has been referred to the decision of the provincial legislature. To ob- viate misconceptions, the draft of a bill for the ad- justment of the claims of all parties was framed under his lordship's directions, and brought into the house of assembly. Anticipating the possibility that this bill might undergo amendments in its progress through the two houses, materially affecting its cha- racter, Lord Ripon had instructed the governor, in that event, not to refuse his assent, but to reserve the bill for the signification of his Majesty's plea- sure. The loss of the bill is, however, ascribed to the solicitor-general having, in his place in the house, stated that no amendment would be permitted. The solicitor-general's expressions. ' t •, in eserve plea- )ed to lOUse, The mis- Or CANADA. 1<)3 understood; but if this was their purport, not only was the statement unauthorized, but directly at va- riance with the spirit of the instructions of the home government. I much regret the misapprehension, in whatever cause it may have originated. It may perhaps be ascribed to the fact, that Lord Aylmer did not think himself at liberty to produce to the house the Earl of Ripon*s despatches on the subject. Your lordship will immediately communicate copies of them, inviting the council and assembly to resume the consideration of the question, upon the terms of Lord Ripon's proposal, to every part of which they may be assured of his Majesty's continued adhe- rence. 16. Lord Aylmer's refusal to issue a writ for the election of a new member of the assembly, upon tiie declaration of the house that M. Mondelet's seat had become vacant, is condemned by that body as a violation of their rights. The question has lost much, if not all, of its practical importance since the passing of the recent law for vacating the seats of members accepting places of emolument under the crown. Still, in justice to Lord Aylmer, I am bound to affirm the accuracy of the distinction in reference to which he appears to have acted. In cases where the vacancy of a seat may, corisistently with existing usages, be notified by the house to the governor without assigning the cause, he is bound to presume that the adjudication of the house is right, and must carry it into effect by issuing a new writ. But in cases where usage requires that in 17* . i. , I, ii, k94 THE BTTBBLCS- the notification to the governor the cause of vacan- cies should be stated, then, if the cause alleged be^ insufficient in point of law, the governor is not at liberty to comply with the request of the house. Tlie concurrence of the governor and the house in any measure, cannot render it legal, if it be pro- hibited by the law of the land. To that rule obe- dience is emphatically due by those to whom the constitution has assigned the high functions of legis- lation and of the executive government. If, there- ioYC, Lord Aylmor rightly judged that M. Mondelct's seat had not been lawfully vacated, his lordship ad- hered to the strict line of duty in declining to issue the writ for which the house applied. If he cnler- laincd a serious and honest doubt on the subject, liis lordship was bound to pause until that doul»t could be removed by competent judicial authority. 'J'i)e subsefjucnt introduction by statute of a law for vjicaling seals in such cases as that of M. Mondclet's, would seem sufficiently to establish that his acccj^- tance of office was not followed by that legal con- sequence. 17. I now approach the case of Sir John Caldwell. It is a subject which has uniformly excited the deep- est regret of my predecessors: and I need hardly add, that I partake largely of that feeling. His Majesty's government have offered to the province (!vory reparation which it has been in their power to make, for the original error of allowing moneys to accumulate in the hands of a public officer, without taking full securities for the faithful discharge of his trust: they have placed at the disposal of the as- in or CANADA. 105 the as- iombly whatever could bo recovered from Sir John Caldwell, or from his sureties; and your lordship will now, on the terms to which I have referred in my accompanying despatch, be authorized to surrender to the appropriation of that house, the only funds by which his Majesty could have contributed towards making good the defalcation. Every prac- tical suggestion has also been mudc to the assembly, fur preventing the recurrence of similar losses. Nothing, in short, has been left undone, or at least un- attempted,to mitigate the evil which the inadequacy of the securities taken from Sir John Caldwell, and the accumulations of public money in his hands, occasioned. Perhaps the legal proceedings against hid property miglit be carried on with greater acti- vity and eflbct; and if so, yourship will lend your aid with the utmost promptitude to that object. It is, in- deed, much to be lamented, that for so many years together, on such a case as this, the law should have proved inadequate to secure for the public such pro- perty as was in the possession of the defaulter, or liis securities, at the time of his insolvency. I feel, however, that incomplete justice has lii- tiierto been rendered to the people of Lower Cana- da, in Sir John Caldwell's case. That gentleman has been permitted to retain his seat at the legisla- tive council, and still holds that conspicuous station. Whatever sympathy I may be disposed to feel for individual misfortune, and in whatever degree the lapse of years may have abated those feeUngs of just indignation which were provoked by the first intelligence of so gross a breach of the public trust. m 'v; ii ni 11^ I 196 TITE BUBBLES I cannot in the calm and deliberate administration of justice, hesitate to conclude that it is not fitting that Sir John Caldwell should retain a seat in the legislature of Lower Canada: his continuance in that position, and his management and apparent possession of the estates which formerly belonged to him in his own right, must exhibit to the people at large an example but too justly offensive to public feeling. Your lordship will cause it to be intimated to Sir John Caldwell, that the King expects the im- mediate resignation of his office of legislative coun- sellor; and that in the event of the failure of that reasonable expectation, his Majesty will be com- pelled, however reluctantly, to resort to other and more painful methods of vindicating the government of the province against the reproach of indifference to a diversion of public money from its legitimate use to the private ends of the accountant. I am not aware that there remains a single topic of complaint unnoticed, either in the pre- ceding pages or in my accompanying instructions to your lordship and your fellow commissioners. It has been my endeavour to meet each successive topic distinctly and circumstantially, neither evading any of the difficulties of the case, nor shrinking from the acknowledgment of any error which may be discovered in the administration of affairs so various and complicated. I dismiss the subject for the pre- sent, with the expression of my earnest hope that his Majesty's efforts to terminate these dissensions may be met by all parties in the spirit of corresp jnd- ing frankness and good-will; assured that, in that OF CANADA. 197 case, his Majesty will not be disappointed in that which is the single object of his policy on this subject — the prosperity of Canada, as an integral and highly important member of the British em* pire. m^i »f IDA i m 198 THE BUBBLES 'i III LETTER X. The arrival of the commissioners of Inquiry in Ca- nada put an end to all farther prospect of grievances, and at once damped the hopes and awakened the anger of the disaffected. The very act of investi- gating the complaints which they themselves had preferred was made a subject of invective; the com- mission was denounced as an insult to the assembly, whose voice alone should be heard, and whose de- cisions neither admitted of question by the council nor by the government. Knowing that the instruc- tions given to the commissioners were of the most conciliatory description, that every change would be effected that they had desired, and that, by their own showing, they would be compelled to be tran- quil, they promptly changed their ground, aban- doned the untenable local topics, and boldly at- tacked the constitution. The mask was now thrown off, and republicanism openly avowed as their ob- ject. That this development was prematurely has- tened by the unexpected and immediate concession of their requests, and their object disclosed sooner than they had intended, is evident from their address to the governor, so lately as in 1831, whom it was their interest and intention to deceive. Early in , that year they said to him, " It will be our earnest OF CANADA. 199 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 unimpaired to posterity.''* Now different language was held, and, that there might be no mistake, Mr. Papineau said : "The people of this province were now merely preparing themselves for a future state of political existence, which he trusted would be neither a monarchy nor an aristocracy. He hoped Provi- dence had not in view for his country a feature so dark as that it should 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." As proofs are always preferable to assertions, and as this is too important a charge to rest on the authority of an anonymous writer, I shall adduce a few more instances where the avowal is distinct and unequivocal. In a French journal devoted to the party, published in Montreal, we find the following sentiments; " In examining with an attentive eye what is pass- ing around us, it is easy to convince oneself that our country is placed in very critical circumstances, and that a revolution will perhaps be necessary to place it in a more natural and less precarious situa- tion. A constitution to remodel, a nationality to maintain — these are the objects which at present occupy all Canadians. " It may be seen, according to this, that there exist two parties, of opposite interests and manners — the Canadians and the English. These first-born i.i: ill \M'\ 'r.U 200 THE BUBBLES Frenchmen have the habits and character of such. They have inherited from their fathers 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 tran- (juil; it is a bad amalgamation of interests, of man- ners, of language, and of religion, which sooner or later must produce a collision. It is sufficiently l^e- lieved 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 of man politically,' says he, *is to obey a foreign power; no humiliation, no torment of the heart, can compare to this. The subjected nation, at least if she be not protected by some extraordinary law, ought not to obey this so- vereign. — We repeat it, an immediate separation from England is the only means of preserving our nationality. Some time hence, when emigration shall have made our adversaries our equals in num- ber, more daring, and less generous, they will de- prive us of our liberties, or we shall have the same fate as our unhappy countrymen the Acadians. Be- lieve me, this is the fate reserved for us, if we do not hasten to make ourselves independent !" In a pamphlet written by Mr. Papineau, he says of the French : " It ^ihe French party) has not, it ought not to entertain a shadow of hope that it will obtain any justice whatsoever from any of the authorities con- stituted as they are at present in this country. If Ro( I OF CANADA. 201 it would entertain the same opinion of the authori- ties in England that it entertains of the authorities in this country, these obstacles could easily be over- come." He then claims the colony as belonging solely to his party: "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." " They have established a system of paper-money, based solely upon their own credit, and which our habitatis have had the folly to receive as ready mo- ney, although it is not hard cash, current among all nations, but on the contrary, which is of no value, and without the limits of the province, would not be received by any person." , / . To obstruct the arrival of emigrants as much as possible, resort was had to one of those measures so common in Canadian legislation, in which the object of the bill is at variance with its preamble. An Act was passed, 6 Will. IV., c. 13, which under the speciously humane pretence of creating a fund to defray the expense of medical assistance to sick emigrants, and of enabling indigent persons of that description to proceed to the place of theic destina- tion, a capitation tax was imposed, which affected emigration to Upper as well as Lower Canada; and the operation of it was such, that even an inhabi- tant of the former province, returning to his home by the St. Lawrence, was liable to this odious impost. When every topic appeared to be exhausted, Mr. Rodier, a member of the assembly, was so fortu- 18 i^i I'll ' i'lfl I'' f'\ 202 THB BUBBLII8 nute as to have discovered a new one, in the cho' lera, \<^hich he charged the English with having in- troduced among them. Absurd as this may seem to be, it was not without its efTect, and the simple- minded credulous peasantry were induced to be- lieve it of a people of whom they had lately heard from their leaders nothing but expressions of hatred and abuse. " When 1 see," said he, " my country in mourn- ing, and my native land presenting to my eye no- thing but one vast cemetery, 1 ask, what has been the cause of all these disasters? and the voices of thousands of my fellow citizens respond from their tombs, — it is emigration. It is not enough to send amongst us avaricious egotists, without any other spirit of liberty than could be bestowed by a sim- ple education of the counter, to enrich themselves at the expense of the Canadians, and then endea- vour to enslave them — they must also rid them- selves of their beggars, and cast them by thousands on our shores — they must send us miserable beings, who after having partaken of the bread of our chil- dren, will subject 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 pre- sent to you so melancholy a picture of the condi- tion 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 emigration. It is only in the house of assembly* we can place our hopes, and it is only in * In a work published in France, for circulation in Canada, a vcty intelligible hint is given on this subject. « As the house of or OAITADA. 203 the choice the Canadians make in their elections, they can ensure the preservation of their rights and political liberties." Things were now rapidly drawing to a crisis. The legislature was assembled by the new gover- nor, and addressed by him in a long and concilia- tory speech, in which the evils of internal dissen- sions were pointedly and feelingly alluded to, and concessions sufficiently numerous made to have gratified the vanity and appeased the irritation of any other people than those to whom it was ad- dressed. Among other things, they were informed, that intending to remedy the evils of persons hold- ing a plurality of offices, he had begun with the highest, and discharged some of his executive coun- sellors. This announcement was received in the same spirit as all others of a similar nature ; and his excellency having cancelled the commission of one gentleman, in consequence of his holding a legal appointment under the house, the assembly thought that so good an example could not be followed too speedily, and immediately dismissed him from the one he retained, because he was in the council. A supplicant for money must learn to subdue his feel- ings, and he who asks for bread must be prepared to encounter insolence as well as destitution; a dig- nified demeanour is but too apt to render poverty ridiculous, and a wise man generally lays it aside, to be worn on the return of happier days. The assembly vote rewards for the destruction of wolves, it is no less urgent to devise means to prevent immigration from being a cala- mity for these colonies/' ' M \i 204 THB BUBBLES local government was in great pecuniary distress; they were humble suitors at the portals of the house, and showed their discretion, in regarding as a mis- take what was intended as an insult. Warrants were also tendered to each branch of the legislature for their contingent expenses; as these charges con- tained, on the part of the house, the salary of Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Viger, agents in England, not ap- pointed conjointly with the council, but by simple resolutions of the house, such an appropriation with- out law had always been violently opposed, and the constitutionalists, fearing such a sacrifice of princi- ple would be made, had, previously to the meeting of the legislature, made it the subject of much ani- madversion, and presented the governor with a re- solution, " That the claim which has recently been insisted upon by the house of assembly, and occa- sionally acted upon by the legislative council, to obtain, by separate addresses to the governor, ad- vances of unappropriated money, under the plea of defraying contingent expenses, but in reality em- bracing the payment of salaries or allowances not legally established, and more particularly as regards the pretensions of the assembly for expenses not in- curred or to be incurred for the business of the ses- sions of that house, is altogether unfounded in law, unsupported by parliamentary usage, and subver- sive of the rights and liberties of the British sub- ject." Independent of the constitutional objection to the application of the public funds to the payment of persons whom the legislative council had not only not concurred in appointing, but to whose mission or CAITAUA. 205 they had pointedly objected, they deeply deplored that so extraordinary a concession should be made as the payment of every demand of that body that obstinately persisted in refusing to make any vote for the support of the government. Peace, how- ever, was deemed paramount to every other consi- deration, and that nothing might be left undone to attain it, even this sacrifice was not considered too great. They were now called upon, in the usual man- ner, to provide for the support of the judges and the officers of government, the public chest containing at the lime £130,000 sterling. The house had no sooner retired from hearing this address, than their speaker adopted his usual mode of inflaming his party by the most violent in- vectives against all the authorities both at home and in the colony, charging the one with deceit and hypocrisy in their words, and the other with op- pression and peculation in their deeds. In a short time he brought matters to that condition he had so long desired. The house voted an address to his Majesty, in which they announced that they had postponed the consideration of the arrears, and determined to refuse any future provision for the wants of the lo- cal administration, in order the better to insist upon the changes which they required from the imperial authorities. Their utmost concession (and they de- sired it might not be taken for a precedent) was to offer a supply for six months, that time being allow- ed to his Majesty's government and the British par- liament to decide on the fundamental alterations of !' ;tf u 206 THE BUBBLES the constitution and other important measares in- cluded in the demands of the assembly. In this bill of supply, which was for six months only, and merely passed for the purpose of throw- ing the odium of rejection on the other branch of the legislature, they excluded the salaries of the counsellors, of their assistant clerk, one of the judges, some usual incidental charges of the civil secretary's office, besides other important salaries; and, as they had hoped, it was not concurred in. This was the first time they had left the executive without the means of conducting the government, for the sole and avowed purpose of procuring changes in the constitution. Of the confusion and distress which this repeated refusal of the assembly to co-operate with the other branches of the legislature produced in the province, it is difficult to convey any ade- quate idea. ' ,. The province was far advanced in the fourth year since there had been any appropriation of pro- vincial funds to the use of government; and although a sum, temporarily contributed from the British Treasury, had relieved the civil officers, so far as to give them one year's salary during that period, the third year was passing away, during which they had not had the smallest fraction of their earnings in the service of the public. The distress and em- barrassment which this state of circumstances in- flicted on the functionaries of the province, whose private resources are generally very limited, were as humiliating as they were unmerited. Many were living on money borrowed at an exorbitant interest ; some could not but be reduced to the verge of ruin ; or OARADA. 207 and to show that this suffering of individuals was not unattended with danger to the general welfare, it may be enough to remark, without painfully dwell- ing on private circumstances, that the judges of the country were amongst those who were left to pro- vide for their subsistence as best they might, after three years' stoppage of their official incomes. This condition of affairs might naturally have been expected to terminate with the commencement of the present session. In the two previous years the supplies had failed in the assembly, either from differences with the governor for the time being, or from the refusal of funds for the payment of their contingent expenses ; but when the provincial par- liament last met, these grounds of dissension were removed. You will not perceive (the commission- ers observed) amongst the grounds assigned for prolonging the financial difficulties, any complaint against the existing provincial administration, or the assertion of any demerit in the parties who con- tinued to be deprived of their lawful remuneration. No local cause of quarrel was alleged, of which the settlement might be indispensable before the public business could proceed; on the contrary, it was stated openly and without disguise, that changes of a political nature were the end in view, and that until certain acts should be done, competent to no other authority than the imperial parliament, and comprising organic changes in the constitution, by virtue of which the assembly itself existed, that the house would never make another pecuniary grant to the government. Thus the public servants, no parties to the contest, were afflicted merely as in- 308 THE BUBBLES struments, through whose sufferings to extort con* cessions totally independent of their will to grant or to refuse. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the objects, for the enforcement of which oven such means as these were thought expedient, had never been positively refused, but had only been referred to the commission of inquiry, in order that, before the executive branch of the government undertook to recommend changes of a very important and ex- tensive nature, it might receive advice from per- sons intrusted with the confidence of his Majesty. This, however, did not prove enough. Apprehen- sions of delay from the commission, and doubts of the freedom with which it would act, were ex- pressed in the address; and the assembly intimated, with frankness, that it would allow of no delibera- tion; that either its demands must be acceded to forthwith, or that it would employ its power over the supplies, to render the government of the country impossible. The sufferings of these officers was a matter of undisguised satisfaction to the disaffected, who made them the subject of much facetious comment on every occasion. The commissioners very natural- ly observed on this peculiarity : " If proof were wanting that national distinctions do exercise an influence on the course of affairs in this province, it might be supplied in the absence of all sympathy on the part of the house of assembly in the existing distress of the public oflicers. Those officers of government are for the most part of Eng- lish origin, which, v/e think, explains the treatment of the public functionaries by the members of as- be or CANADA. soo sombly. If both ipoke the same language, used the same habits, and had those ordinary feelings of sym- pathy which must follow from any familiar inter- course in private life, we do not believe it pui^sible that one of the two could find resolution to plunge indiscriminately the whole of the other class into difficulties, not for any acts of their own, not even for any obnoxious sentiments they might hold, but in order that, by their losses, a third party might be induced through compassion to surrender objects desired at its hands." Such, however, were the means through which they hoped to effect their object, which they now announced as follows : 1. That the legislative council should be elec- tive. 2. That the executive council should be convert- ed into a ministry, responsible to the assembly. 3. That the Tenures* Act and Land Company's Act should be repealed. 4. That the Crown revenues should be surren- dered unconditionally. 5. That the management of the waste lands should be given up to them. And they farther declared, that they would pay no arrears, or vote any civil list, until these demands should be complied with. Here the government also made its stand, and very properly said. We shall concede no farther; these demands involve a surreitder of the colony to one party within it, and we are not justified in granting them, consistently with the duty we owe ( . I . J- ' ^. J t m »^j 210 THE BUBBLES to the Crown, to the public, or to the colonists of British origin. ■' In order that you may understand the bearings of these demands, which are now the real points in dispute (all others having been disposed of,) it will be necessary for me to consider them separately ; but as I have already shown you that " nationali- ty," " independence," and republicanism were their avowed ultimate objects, and also the quo animo in which they were demanded, you may naturally infer that they themselves considered them as materially contributing to that end, and essential to prepare the country (as Mr. Papineau described it) for a future state of political existence, which he trusted would be neither a monarchy nor an aristocracy. Indeed this has never been denied any where but in Eng- land, and here only by a party who are desirous of applying the same elective principle to the house of lords, most probably with the view of producing a similar result. 1st. The first demand was that the legislative council should be elective. ^ ? The legislative council is contemporaneous with the house of assembly, owing its existence to the constitutional act of 1791, and was the first instance known in the colonies of such a body having a dis- tinct existence, separate and apart from the execu- tive council. It consisted at first of fourteen mem- bers, and, in October 1837, of forty, eighteen of whom were French Canadians ; but as there were several unable to attend from infirmities and old age, Lord Gosford reported that not more than thirty- one could be assembled, thirteen English and eigh- 5 ; OF CANADA. 211 teen French members, of whom three at most were persons holding office under government. This body has, as far as the dependent nature of a colo- ny permits, analogous duties to perform to those of the house of lords, and, when judiciously selected, is essential to deliberate and useful legislation, to sustain the prerogative, to uphold the connexion be- tween the mother country and the colony, and to give security to the hundred and fifty thousand sub- jects of British origin in the province. This much was admitted even by the commissioners of inquiry, whose reluctant tribute appears not to have been given until ingenuity had sought in vain for a bet- ter substitute. " In the revision and correction of bills sent up to them by the assembly, we have no doubt, however, that the council has often rendered valuable ser- vices to the country, and has no less fulfilled one, perhaps, of its peculiar functions, by its rejection of measures which the constitution would not admit, thereby relieving the representative of the King from the duty of withholding the royal assent to them : such as bills in which the assembly encroached upon the royal prerogative, tacked to their grants of mo- ney conditions deemed in England unparliamentary, or took it upon themselves to attempt the' repeal of a British statute." It has been the unceasing aim of Mr. Papineau and his party to libel this body as a combined faction, actuated by interest alone to struggle for the support of a corrupt government, adverse to the rights and wishes of the people. One of the charges brought against it was that there were too II ■i ii fii'i ' ,A . .. li all 1! . Ill (a . 1 '! l1 i 212 THE BUBBLES many persons in it holding office, and that com> plaint was not without foundation. Indeed it was so apparent, that, from 1829 to 1835, twenty-one new counsellors were appointed wholly independent of government. Another charge preferred against it was the rejection in ten years of 169 bills sent to them by the other house, as contained in the fol- lowing tables:— '■ -. YEAR. Rejected by the Council. Amended by Council. Total. 1822 - - ■ 1823 - - . 1824 1825 - • • 1826 - ■ - 1827 - - • 1828 1829 1830 - . - 1831 - . 1832 - - • 8 14 12 12 19 No BcMion. 16 16 11 14 2 5 5 8 No Session. 8 8 3 8 8 16 17 17 87 No Session. 34 24 14 22 Total 122 47 169 This charge has been reiterated in the other co- lonies, where the explanation never followed, and in some instances, from the circumstantial and for- mal manner in which it is made, has not been with- out its effect. It will be observed that they are charged with rejecting 109 instead of 122 bills, every exercise of the constitutional right of amend- ment being considered equivalent to rejection. Every successive year the bills which had been disagreed to were again transmitted to them, to swell by their rejection the amount of their of- fences. Deducting the number produced by this multiplying process, the amount of bills rejected falls under forty, which is an average of less than OF CANADA. 213 \ four a year. In addition to this formidable list which had not been concurred in, another intermi- nable one was offered of those which had not been considered, the explanation of which I find in the words of the commissioners : — " Much obloquy has also, we must assert, been unjustly attempted to be thrown on the council for the rejection of bills sent up to them late in the ses- sion, when there were no longer the means of form- ing a house in the assembly to take into considera- tion any amendments that might be made on them.'' Instead of preferring complaints against this body for acts of omission, they might have been more suc- cessful had they rested satisfied with charging them with acts of commission; for, although they can be justified for their rejection of pernicious bills, what shall we say to their want of firmness in after- wards passing some of those very bills, under the dictation of that assembly that was arming itself with fresh charges from these instances of its weak* ness? But the time had now arrived when it was alike independent of the crown and the people, and could neither be influenced by the timid fears of the executive, nor the violence and invective of the as- sembly. So long as a majority of office-holders and people connected with government had sdats at the council board, the factious majority of the house could exercise a control over the council, through the state of dependence and subjugation in which they kept the executive. Every governor had lately shown a desire to win the honour of pacifying Ca- nada, — had receded and conceded, offered concilia- f- 19^ \ 4 y I'll I am )"\'- ' ili'!i 1 V i I I i i .'. / 214 THE BUBBLES tion and endured affronts, borne and forborne, in a manner that it is quite humiliating to contemplate, and had used his influence in the legislative council to aid in the execution of instructions which, al- though they are justly entitled to the merit of kind intentions, have not so much claim upon our admira- tion on the score of their merit or their dignity. We find, indeed, the aid of the secretary for the colonies called in, and Mr. Stanley reproving them for even insinuating a doubt of the loyalty of these omnipo- tent men, and regretting that any word had been in- troduced which should have the appearance of as- cribing to a class of his Majesty's subjects of one ori- gin views at variance with the allegiance which they owe to his Majesty. The house had, however, by their incessant complaints, purified the board of eve- ry person upon whom this influence could be ex- erted. This independence of executive influence is thus alluded to by Lord Aylmer: — " It would be dif- ficult, perhaps, to find in any British colony a legis- lative body more independent of the Crown than the legislative council of Lower Canada; and so far am I from possessing, as the King's reiresentative, any influence there, that 1 will not conceal that J 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 sa- tisfaction in avowing that I repose great confidence in that branch of the colonial legislature. It is a confidence derived from my knowledge of the up- right, independent, and honourable character of the great majority of those who compose it, and of their OF CANADA. 215 firm and unalterable attachment to his Majesty's per- son and government, and to the constitution of the colonies as by law established." The council had actually become, what it ought to be, the representa- tive of the independent people of the country — of the wealth, intelligence, and virtue of the colony. The assembly, therefore, voted that it was more mischievous than ever, and resolved that it should be elective. It is but due to them here to say that this idea is not thought to have originated in Cana- da, but to have been communicated to them, with other equally judicious advice, from England. It is certain it has been advocated here, if not strongly, at least warmly, and was supported in the house of lords by Lord Brougham. From a careful perusal of what his lordship said upon the occasion, which was declamatory and not argumentative, I am in- clined to believe it received his support, not so much because he thought so, as because the ministry did not think so, as the whole speech appears to be the effect of strongly excited feelings. Any organic change in the legislative eouncil must be well considered, before it is granted, in two dis- tinct and separate bearings, first, as it affects the con- nexion with this country, and, secondly, as it affects the interests of the colonists themselves. The avowed object of the assembly in advocating this change, is to procure an identity of views in the two branches, which would be effected by their being elected by the same persons, or, what is the same thing, by the same influences. Were this to take place, it would be a duplicate of the house, registering its Acts, but exercising no beneficial legislation upon them. A ,i ■!?! 'in mi i rg' i I 'I' ii 316 THE BUBBLES 1 I mi difference of opinion then, whenever it occurred, would not be between the two houses, but between them and the governor, and it is easy to conceive how untenable his position would soon become. At pre- sent, although possessing a veto, and forming a con- stituent, he can hardly be said to be a deliberative branch of the legislature, but by this change either such duties must necessarily devolve upon him, and occasion the exercise of incompatible powers, or in every instance where he differed in opinion, he would be compelled to resort to a rejection of the measure. The commissioners, whose reasoning on the subject is not very intelligible, have been more fortunate in the expression of their impartiality, having recorded at the same time their approbation of the principle, and their conviction of the danger of its application. The object of the French party, it is said, is to assi- milate their institutions to those of the United States; but the situation of the country is so differ- ent from that of any state in the union, that there is no analogy whatever. Instead of two coexistent but independent chambers, it would in fact be only one body occupying two halls. ^^ m In Canada there is unfortunately wanting among the French population, the salutary control of public opinion. The population is wholly unfit for the ex- ercise of the important duties of self-government. Scattered over a large surfade, ignorant of constitu- tional principles, and inattentive to public affairs, they implicitly follow a few leaders, who have the choice and the management of their representatives in their own hands, and who, if this change were conceded, would place in both houses such persons OF CANADA. 21? aa would follow their instructions. It were needless to ask in such a case what would become of the Bri- tish population? That Mr. Papii\eau knows but lit- tle of the constitution of the United States which he affects to admire, and claims to imitate, will best ap- pear from the following extracts from American con- stitutional writers: " All the powers of government," says Mr. Jeffer- son, " legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to Uie legislative body. The concentration of these in the same hands is precisely the definition of a de- spotic government. It will be no alleviation, that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the republic of Venice. An elective despotism is not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so di- vided and balanced among several bodies of magis- tracy, as that no one could transcend their legal li- mits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." Another author says, "Another and most important advantage arising from this ingredient is, the great difference which it creates in the elements of the two branches of the legislature; which constitutes a great desideratum in every practical division of legislative power. In fact, this division (as has been already intimated) is of little or no intrinsic value, unless it is so organized, that each can operate as a real check upon undue and rash legislation. If each branch is substantially 19* I! m 1 :i n v.lli m 11' . 1 i Jl, mi 218 THE BUBBLES framed upon the same plan, the advantages of the division are shadowy and imaginative; the visions and speculations of the brain, and not the waking thoughts of statesmen or patriots. It may be safely asserted, that for all the purposes of liberty, and se- curity of stable laws, and of solid institutions, of per- sonal rights, and of the protection of property, a sin- gle branch is quite as good as two, if their composi- tion is the same, and their spirit and impulses the same. Each will act as the other does; and each will be led by some common influence of ambition, or intrigue, or passion, to the same disregard of pub- lic interests, and the same indi£ference to the pros- tration of private rights. It will only be a duplica- tion of the evils of oppression and rashness with a du- plicaf Ion of obstruction to effective redress. In this view the organization of the senate becomes of inesti- mable value." Again he says, " The improbability of sinister combination will always be in proportion to the dissimilarity of the genius of the two bodies; and, therefore, every circumstance consistent with har- mony in all proper measures, which points out a dis- tinct organization of the component materials of each, is desirable." And again this is very powerfully put by an emi- nent republican writer : " The division of the legislature into two sepa- rate and independent branches, is founded on such obvious principles of good policy, and is so strongly recommended by the unequivocal language of ex- perience, that it has obtained the general approba- tion of the people of this country. One great ob- ject of this separation of the legislature into two i' OF CANADA. 219 emi- houses acting separately, and with co-ordinate powers, is to destroy the evil effecis of sudden and strong excitement, and of precipitate measures, springing from passion, caprice, prejudice, personal influence, and party intrigue, and which have been found by sad experience, to exercise a potent and dangerous sway in single assemblies. A hasty de- cision is not so likely to arrive to the solemnities of a law when it is to be arrested in its course and made to undergo the deliberation, and probably the jealous and critical revision, of another and a rival body of men, sitting in a different place, and under better advantages, to avoid the prepossessions and correct the errors of the other branch. The legis- lature of Pennsylvania and Georgia consisted ori- ginally of a single house. The instability and pas- sion which marked their proceedings were very visible at the time, and the subject of much public animadversion: and in the subsequent reform of their constitutions, the people were so sensible of this de- fect, and of the inconvenience they had suffered from it, that in both states a senate was introduced. No portion of the political history of mankind is more full of instructive lessons on this subject, or contains more striking proofs of the faction, insta'bility, and misery of states under the dominion of a single, un- checked assembly, than those of the Italian repub- lics of the middle ages, and which in great numbers, and with dazzling but transient splendour, in the in- terval between the fall of the western and eastern empire of the Romans.* They were all alike ill- * I would refer the reader, if he feels inclined to pursue this subject, to Sir James Mlying for tliat |)iu'pose such balance as siiould, on the lOlli day of April last, be in the hands of tho receiver-general, arising from the hereditary, terri- torial, and casual revenues v.*" tho Crown, the go- vernor of the province be empowered to issue, out of any oth(!r moneys in tho hands of the receiver- general, such farther sums as shall be necessary to cllect tho payment of such arrears and charges up to tho loth of Ajn-il last. " Othly. That it is expedient to place at the dis- l)osal of the legislature the net proceeds of the he^ reditary, territorial, and casual revenues of tho Crown, arising within the province in case the said legislature shall see fit to grant a civil list for de- fraying the necessary charges of tho administration of justice, and for the maintenance and unavoidable expenses of certain of the principal oflicers of tho civil government of tho province; and, lastly, " That it is expedient that tho legislatures ot Jjovver and Upper Canada respectively, be autho- rized to make provision for the joint regulation and adjustment of cjuestions respecting their trade and commerce, and of other questions wherein they have a common interest." ' ■ Whether the spirit of concession had not been heretofore carried too far, and whether the public affairs of Canada ought to have been suffered (even for the amiable and praiseworthy object of endea- M ■ • ■ .. V. , .• ,,/ i 238 THE BUBBLES vouring, if possible, to satisfy the dominant party in the house,) ever to have arrived at this crisis, are questions upon which I have no desire, on this oc- casion, to enter, being foreign to my object, which is to show you that the French-Canadians have no claim to sympathy " as our oppressed and enslaved brethren." But that these resolutions were indis- pensable, that they were not resorted to till they were necessary, and that parliament was justified in this exercise of its supreme authority, no unpre- judiced and right-thinking man can doubt. A co- lony is a dependent province, and Great Britain is an independent metropolitan state. The control- ling power must obviously be greater than the power controlled. The power, therefore, of a co- lony being limited, if it assumes to pass those li- mits, it is no longer dependent, but independent. It is not only the right but the duty of Parliament, to restrain within their constitutional limits, provin- cial legislatures, in the same manner as it is the right of the colonists to exercise those powers constitutionally, and their duty not to attempt to ex- ceed those limits. When one branch of a legisla- ture resolves that it will never perform its functions until a co-ordinate branch, deriving its authority from the same source as itself, is destroyed, it ex- ceeds its due bounds, or rather relinquishes the ex- ercise of all constitutional power. In the pam- phlet already alluded toi Mr. Papineau says, " The constitution has ceased to exist of right, and in fact can no longer be maintained but by force." Here, then, was a case for the legitimate inter- ference of Parliament, an interference which no reflecting colonist will ever object to, else there would be no appeal but to the sword whenever a OF CANADA. 239 designing demagogue should unfortunately obtain a majority of obstructive members in the assembly; but these resolutions were said to be a violation of the declaratory act of 1778, and an unconstitu- tional mode of levying taxes on the Canadians, and appropriating their money without their con- sent! It is not material to the argument to mention, but it is a singular fact, that the revenue happens not to have been raised by the people of French origin, and that therefore as far as thev are concerned, their money has not been appropriated without their con- sent. The question is often asked by the Upper Canadians, on what docs a French inhabitant pay duty ?* Is it, they say, on woollen stuffs of his own manufacture? Is it on wooden shoes, the produce of his forest ? Is it on tobacco, the produce of his own fields ? Is it on sugar, the juice of his own ma- ple groves? Is it on wine which he never tastes? Is it on books which he cannot read ; or on postage of letters he cannot write ? Or is it on spirits dis- tilled from his own grain ? But this is not to the pur- pose, it was money that they had a right to dispose of themselves, if they had thought proper to do so, and must so far be considered the revenue of the whole public. These resolutions imposed no taxes, they merely applied towards the discharge of salaries of the ci- vil officers of the government, certain moneys al- readv accumulated under existing laws, in the hands of the treasury, to enable the executive to carry on the government. That it was applied without their consent to this purpose, is true, 7iot because they did , «'!;'.■, ! i.| ' ■'' i • See IcUers of Camillus. m ^v 1^ I i i- i 240 THE BUBBLES I ' } not consent to vote supplies, (and it is most material to observe this distinction,) but because they had refused to discharge any of their duties as an assembly, or in any manner to co-operate zcith the other branches ; and had themselves, by this suicidal act, suspended the con- stitution and throicn the xoholc country into anarchy and confusion. It was a case fully within the limitation prescribed by Burke : " For my part," says that great man, " I look upon the rights stated in that act exactly in the man- ner in which I viewed them on its very first pro- position, and which I have often taken the liberty, with great humility, to lay before you. I look, I say, on the imperial rights of Great Britain, and the privileges which the colonists ought to enjoy under these rights, to be just the most reconcileable things in the world. The parliament of Great Britain sits at the head of her extensive empire in two capaci- ties; one as the local legislature of this island, pro- viding for all things at home, immediately, and by no other instrument than the executive power. The other, and I think her nobler capacity, is what I call her imperial character; in which, as from the throne of heaven, she superintends all the several inferior legislatures, and guides and controls them all without annihilating any. As all these provin- cial legislatures are only co-ordinate to each other, they ought all to be subordinate to her; else they can neither preserve mutual peace, nor hope for mutual justice, nor eflectualiy afford mutual assis- tance. It is necessary to coerce the negligent, to restrain the violent, and to aid the weak and defi- cient, by the over-ruling plenitude of her power. But in order to enable Parliameut to answer all OF GAITADA. 241 these ends of provident and beneficent superinten- dence, her powers must be boundless. The gentle- men who think the powers of Parliament limited, may please themselves to talk of requisitions. But suppose the requisitions are not obeyed ? What ! shall there be no reserved power in the empire to supply a deficiency which may weaken, divide, and dissipate the whole ? " This is what I meant when 1 have said, at va- rious times, that I consider the power of taxing in Parliament as an instrument of empire, and not as a means of supply. " Such, sir, is my idea of the condition of the JJritish empire, as distinguished from the constitution of Britain; and on these grounds I think subordi- nation and, liberty mi.y ho sufficiently reconciled through the whole; v' • ' to serve a refining spe- culatist or a factious . igogue, I know not; but enough surely for the ease and happiness of man." But, although the right of Parliament to interfere, and its intention to do so, were thus asserted, there was still so strong a repugnance felt by Government to exercise the power, that they desired Lord Gos- ford to call the assembly together again, and give those misguided men another opportunity of recon- sidering their conduct. They met as summoned, but again refused all supplies, which had now been withheld for five years, and again declined to exer- cise any legislative functions. There was now no power to make new laws, no means of paying those who administered the existing ones, no appropria- tion for the public service in any department; schools were neglected, roads unrepaired, bridges dilapi- lated, jails unprovided for, temporary laws expired 21* I !:. 242 THE BUBDLCS or expiring, and confugion and disorganization every where; and yet we are gravely told Parliament ought not to have interfered ! that it was one of the dear- est and most sacred rights of the colonists to pro- duce this extraordinary state of things, and that they ought not to be interrupted in the enjoyment of what had cost them so much time and trouble to bring about. If this opinion were founded on conscientious scruples, it would deserve our respect ; but it is the liberality of accomplices ;. and they may well be ge- nerous who replenish their coffers by plunder. Wc must not be surprised, therefore, to find among those who invest the Canadians with this novel power, men who offer to mercenaries the pillage of the church, and who, loaded wiih the spoils of vested rights, which they have violently torn from their lawful owners, kindly bestow this stolen one upon comrades engaged in the same unlioly cause as themselves. They are accwnplislied and dexterous men, and, knowing the numerous covers of law^ resort to its shelter, and boldly call upon the real owners to make out their case, and prove their pro- perty. It is difiicult to decide whether the amiable advocates of this intelligible doctrine are best en- titled to our pity or our contempt. Those persons who had always espoused their cause in England, seem to have fully penetrated their object. ** I do not marvel, at it," said my Lord Brougham ; " to me it is no surprise — I expected //." Wen of sanguine temperament are apt to expect confidently what they desire ardently. That he wished them to be independent, he made no secret- Wliatever we may think of his lordship, as a states- OF CANADA. 243 man, for entertaining such a patriotic wish, we can- not but admire the unflinching friendship that in- duced him, through good report and evil report, to adhere to the cause he had determined to advocate. That they might not feel discouraged by partial re- verses, he held out the language of promise to them that the day was not far distant when they could hope to realize the object nf their wishes. He de- precated our thinking too harshly of them for their vain attempt. " Where," he continued, " in what country — from what people did they learn the les- son? of whom but ourselves, the English people? We it is that have set the example to our Ameri- can brethren ; let us beware how we blame them too harshly for following it." Not content with in- terceding for their pardon, he solicited, as a boon for them, what they had failed in an attempt to seize as plunder. " I hold these colonies," he said, " as worth nothing; the only interest we have in the matter concerns the manner in which a separation, sooner or later inevitable, shall take place. Js it not, then, full time we should make up our minds to a separation so beneficial to all parlies? These, my lords, are not opinions to which I have lately come ; they are the growth of many a long year, and the fruit of much attention given to the subject." The effect of this language upon the loyal population of the provinces it is not easy to conceive. At no time could such a doctrine be heard with indiffer- ence, but during a period of unusual excitement it was too mischievous not to awaken a general in-» dignation. On the minds of the Americans it has had a powerful effect, in speculating upon the result of an active sympathy on their part. I J I f) m if 244 THE BUBBLES Disaffection having now succeeded in producing anarchy and bloodshed, assumed the shape of in- surrection, the natural result of so many years of agita:'~n. The tragical events of this sad revolt are to^ recent and too impressive to be forgotten, and the recital would be as painful as it is unneces- sary. Anxious, however, as I am not to dwell on the mournful picture which it presents, justice re- quires that I should pause and pay the tribute of my respect to the pious, amiable, and loyal Catholic clergy of Canada. They have preserved a large portion of iheir flock from contamination, and we are mainly indebted to their strenuous exertions that the rebellion has not been more general and more successful. They have learned from painful experience, what ecclesiastics have ever found un- der similar circumstances, tiiat treason alvvavs calls in infidelity to its aid; that there is a natural alliance between the assailants of the throne and the altar, and that they who refuse to render tribute toCassar are seldom known to preserve, for any length of time, " the fear of God before their eyes." The history of this Canadian revolt is filled with instruc- tion to the people of England. It teaches them the just value of the patriotism of those who are the in- temperate advocates of extreme opinions; it shows that courage in debate may sometimes evaporate in the field, and that those who lead others rashly into danger are not unfrequently the first to desert them basely in the hour of need. It exhibits in bold re- lief the disastrous effects of incessant agitation, and demonstrates that the natural result of continued concession to popular clamour is to gradually " weaken the powers of government, until society re- OF CANADA. 245 solves itself into its original element. These truths are too distinctly marked to require to be retouched. He who runs may road, but he that would carry away the moral must pause and consider. It is written in the blood and suffering of the colonists, and pru- dence suggests the propriety of their availing them- selves of the painful experience of others, instead of purchasing it by the severe and painful process of personal experience. The successful advocacy here of similar opinions must necessarily produce the like results, aggravated by the increased power of numbers, and the greater value of the plunder. I have seen enough of England to admire it, of its institutions to respect it, of the character of its peo- ple to love it, and of the blessings conferred by its limited monarchy, to know how to estimate the en- viable lot of those who have the good fortune to in- habit it. O fortunatos nim'ium sua si bona norint. I should feel indeed that kindness could awaken no emotion, and hospitality no gratitude, if, after having received as an obscure provincial author, the most flattering indulgence, as a colonist, the most hearty welcome, and a stranger the most considerate at- tentions, 1 did not express warmly what I feel deeply. My knowledge of its constitution preceded that of its people ; and if my studies have led me to admire its theory, personal observation of its practical ef- fect has confirmed and increased that favourable impression. It is a noble and admirable structure ! Esto perpetua. Before I quit the subject of this rebellion I must allude to the mitigating circumstances that attended it. Excited by every stimulant that parliamentary I 1: It:' « 240 THE BUBBLES declamation could apply, or British sympathy sug- gest, or American republicanism offer — encouraged at home, aided from abroad, and nowhere opposed or threatened, is it to be wondered at that the pros- pect of plunder and impunity seduced these mis- guided people from their allegiance, or that the con- tagion should spread from Lower to Upper Canada. When such a man as Hume was known to be a sup- porter of the government, can we wonder if igno- rant men, three thousand miles off, supposed he was expressing the sentiments of that government, when he said, "my wish would be to set the Canadas and the whole of British North America, free to govern themselves as the United States do, by their own representatives, and to cultivate a good connexion with the mother country for their mutual interest. Until that takes place, neither the Canadas nor Great Britain will derive those advantages which they ought to have from a different and more economical management of their resources." Or when confi- dentially communicating to his friend, M'Kenzic, a man devoted to revolutionary doctrines, he boldly asserted, " Your triumphant election on the ICth, 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 termi- nate in freedom and independence from the baneful dominatioti of the mother country, and the tyrannical conduct of a small and despicable faction in the co- lony." *' The proceedings between 1772 and 1782, in America, ought not to be forgot- ten, and to the honour of the Americans, and for the interests of the civilized world, let th?ir conduct and their result be ever in view,'* could they mis- take the import of the term baneful domination, or or CANADA. 247 despise the advice so judiciously given by the rep- resentative of a metropolitan county. Knowing little of Bath, but its reputation of being the resort of wealth and fashion, was it unnatural for them to infer that the member for that town spoke the sen- timents of a powerful and influential class, when he said, " One resource, and one resource alone re- mains : to be a free people you must resist the Bri- tish parliament." When the working men's so- cieties, patronised by practical and powerful men, held similar language, was it a great stretch for the credulity of those poor people to believe, that acces- sion of Canada would immediately follow a demon- stration of revolt. Their case is, indeed, one that commands our pity rather than our resentment; but what shall we say of those who went still farther than their counsellors, and pursued the wicked course of advising an armed resistance to the go- vernment, of exciting them to sedition, and evoking the evil passions of the human heart, to insurrection and slaughter. The receiver is more criminal than the thief, and the seducer more vile than his victim. The exile and the prisoner, the houseless settler, and his starving suffering family, the smouldering vil- lages, the spirits of the dead, and the voice of the dying, call aloud for vengeance on the authors of all these accumulated aggravated evils. He who knew the facility of man to fall into error, and the miseries entailed upon us by guilt, has mercifully taught us to offer our daily prayer that we may not be led into temptation ; and for the credit of our common nature, be it spoken, so few have been the mstances where men have incited to crime, when they were not to profit by the offence, that no pro- ir h.. !l l> H 51 « 248 THB BUBBLES vision is made against the sin of Iiolding out temp- tation to others. It was not to be supposed that wickedness could exist without reward, or crime without an object. Unfortunate victims of false friends, deluded objects of cold unfeeling advice, you deserved the lenity that has been extended to you ; it would have been unfair, indeed, to have visited upon you, the mere instruments of others, the punishment due to the authors of your folly and your guilt. Such were the feelings entertained throughout the adjoining colonies, but here a diflbrcnt language was held. They were pitied not because they were misguided, but because they were unsuccessful. In- dignation was expressed, in no measured terms, not against the tempter or the tempted, but the gallant and loyal militia who suppressed them, and their vigilant, able, and intelligent governor. My Lord Brougham was loud and vehement in his invectives, denouncing these brave and devoted men " as an undisciplined and insubordinate rabble," and the presiding genius, whose penetration discovered, and whose foresight provided the means of crushing this rebellion, as a person planting snares, with the base purpose of catching the unwary. That his lord- ship, the advocate and eulogist of a republic, should grieve over the vain attempt of others to establish it in Canada, is not to be wondered at; but that he whose physical courage no man doubts, and whose moral courage is so great as to enable him to stand forth boldly, unaided and alone, among his peers, the opponent and assailant of all parties, could feel no sympathy for those brave men who, in the dead- ly conflict of war, rushed forth amid the storms of m^ OF CANAD\. 2-W iii iheii' inclement winter, in support of their laws, their religion, and their homes; prepared to comjuer or to die in their defence, that he could find no terms of approbation, no figures of speech, no not one word of praise, for those heroic men; that he could sec nothina; peculiar in. their case, who had to contend with violators of law within, and violators of treaties without the province, and scorn and con- tumely here, and who, braving privation, the climate, and the enemy, rallied round the standard of their country with an enthusiasm, of which history can 'scarcely find a parallel — that he could discern no worth in loyalty, and no merit in those " who fear God and honour the king," is, indeed a fruitful source of astonishment. How is it ? Is this a cha- racteristic of democracy ? Docs it indeed harden the heart and deaden all the glowing impulses of our nature; or is it that philosophy is cold and specula- tive, regulating the passions, and subduing and chas- tening the imagination. Or may it be, that, unused to panegyric, his lordship feels and knows his power of sarcasm, and prefers the path in which he excels all contemporaries, to one in which unequal powers forbid the hope of pre-eminence. Whatever it may be, for his own sake, for the sake of the n9ble house of which he is a member, and of the country of which his eloquence is at once the pride and the boast, it is deeply to be deplored that he should have adopted a course that, unfortunately, confers but little honour on the qualities of his head ; and, it is to be feared, still less on the feelings of his heart. This rebellion had scarcely been put down, when my Lord Durham was appointed with extraordina- 22 vii ' \' ii 250 TIIK llUIinLES ry powers, to complete the pacification. On this part of the history of Canada it is needless to dwell. It has proved a failure : not from a deficiency of power, but from a deficiency of conduct in the dicta- tor. Instead of assembling around him a council of the most influential and best-informed men in the co- lony, according to the evident spirit of the act and his instructions, he thought proper to appoint to that re- sponsible situation, ofliccrs attached to his household or perfect strangers with the magnanimous view, as lie informs us, of assuming the whole respomibUHy of his own measures. As might naturally be expected, owing to his having neglected to obtain the best pro- fessional advice at his command in the colony, and acting on his own view of the case, his first step was illegal. Now, by assuming the whole responsibility, \vc were given to understand that, having full con- fidence in his own judgment as well as his own in- tegrity, he was disposed to monopolize the whole honour of success, at the hazard of incurring the whole censure of failure. The praise or the blame was to be exclusively his own. It was the decision of a confident and vain man. His next act was indi- cative of a weak and petulant mind. Instead of be- ing willing to bear the whole responsibility, as he announced, he showed that he was unwilling or un- able to bear any. A soon as Parliament felt itself called upon to pronounce the illegality of his mea- sures, and stepped in to rescue him from the con- sequences of his precipitate conduct, he relinquished his government, not in the usual and proper form, by tendering his resignation, and waiting until his successor should be appointed, but by instantly leaving the colony. i or CANADA. 251 3n this ) dwell, oncy of edicta- uncil ot" the co- and his that re- usehold now, as IbiUtij ol ipected, »est pro- my, and fep was isibility, ull con- own in- p whole ring the e blame decision vas indi- id of bC" y, as he 12 or un- elt itself lis mca- the con- nquished er form, until his instantly It is dillicult to conceive of a public servant com- mitting ar^ofTcnce more serious in its nature, and more pernicious in its example than thus abandon- ing his post without leave; and it was incumbent on the government to have vindicated the honour of the Crown, by ordering the captain of the In- constant to return iininediutely to Quebec with his lordship, and to deliver to him, within his govern- ment, the acceptance of his resignnlion. It would have tauLjIil tiic misguided people of the Canadas to respect, if they could not love, the even-handed justice that could visit with punishment the disobe- dience of a {Tovernor-ifcneral as well as that of a peasant; and they would have seen in the return of the one, and the exile of the other, a jiraclical il- lustration of the only equality that honest and sen- sible men ever desire to behold — " the equality ot all in the eye of the law." The moral eilect of such a measure, combining vigour with impartia- lity, would have gone far towards tramiuillizing Canada, and would have enabled his lordship, when he next addressed the people of England, to have pointed to it as a proof that his mission, how- ever it might have alTected himself, had termi- nated in a manner that was useful to the colonv and honourable to the government- Of the ill-advised and ill-timed manifesto it is unnecessary for me to speak; its effects are but too visible in a new revolt, to which its unguarded lan- guage gave too much encouragement. Nor shall I enter upon the serious charges he has brought against that august body, of which he has the ho- I' I r 252 THE BUBBLES i> I I I nour to be a member, of legislating, where Canada is concerned, "in ignorance and indifference." To shake the confidence of the colonists in the justice and integrity of that high tribunal, to which they have to look as a last resource, was indeed unkind to them, unworthy of himself, and injurious to the honour of the house he has assailed. He who ad- vocates democratic institutions will soon find the effect of his theory influencing his own conduct, and though he may commence in the assertion of principles, lie is apt to end in the expression of feeling. The natural tendency of such opinions is to level all distinctions. Although we have great cause therefore for regret, we have none for sur- })rise, in this attempt to measure his noble colleagcs by so humble a standard. I am willing, however, to do his lordship the justice to believe, that when the irritation that caused this ebullition of feeling shall subside, he will himself regret, as deeply as every right-thinking man now does, that he should have judged that assembly in temper and pique; and that he will feel he has afforded some room for ill-nature to suggest, that although he had a right, if he thought proper, in the exercise of a laudable diffidence, to have appropriated those at- tributes to himself, he was not justified in extending an indiscriminate application of them to others. That many of the measures he proposed for the benefit of Canada were good, it would be uncha- ritable to doubt; but as none of them have been matured, it would be presumptuous to say so. That others, however, were of a dangerous nature, we have reason to know. The evils to be reaped from OF CANADA. 253 this mission have not yet ripened for us to gather; but the seed is sown, and it is to be feared taken root too extensively. What could be more inju- dicious than to send to the contented and happy colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and ask for deputies, to listen to crude and undigested schemes for their future government, or to give their own visionary plans in exchange for his? What more cruel than to unsettle men's minds as to the form of their government, and make the sta- bility of their institutions a matter of doubt? What more pernicious than to open a political bazaar at Quebec for the collection and exhibition of imagi- nary grievances ? In the Lower Provinces we are contented and happy. We need no reforms but what we can cilect ourselves; but we are alarmed at changes which we never asked, and do not re- quire. The federative union proposed by his lord- ship has opened a wide field for speculation, di- rected men's minds to theoretical change, afforded a theme for restless young demagogues to agitate upon, and led us to believe that our constitution is in danger of being subverted. Most people think, and all reflecting men know, that it would ripen the colonies into premature independence in less than ten years ; and who, I would ask, that is at- tached to the mother country, and desirous to live under a monarchical form of government, can con- template a scheme pregnant with so much danger, without feelings of dismay ? Who would continue to live in New Brunswick, if at every disturbance in Canada, the governor-general is to propose to new-model their form of government? Who would 22* '.'■ 254: THE BUBBLES consent that that united and loyal colony should have its peace and happiness jeopardized by any union with the disaffected and troublesome French Canadians, or will approve of the political quackery that would compel Nova Scotia to swallow a nau- seous medicine, for the purpose of effecting a cure in Canada ? The danger arising from such vision- ary schemes as have lately been unfolded to the colonies, is passed for the present, and I heartily rejoice that it is, but it is to be hoped that powers co-extensive with the Lower Provinces, may never again be intrusted to any man. In this country there is a general and very natural repugnance ma- nifested to give up the bodies of deceased friends for experiments for the benefvt of science. It is difficult to imagine how so sensitive a nation could consent that their colonists should be considered of less value, and be delivered alive into the hands of the operator, for the advancement of politics. In Paris, I heard with horror that a lecturer had illustrated his theory by applying his dissecting knife to the limbs of a living animal. I shuddered at the recital of such atrocious cruelty ; but little did I dream that, at that very time, a kind and merciful Providence was graciously averting a si- milar fate from our own species on the other side of the water. All British America has been agitated during the past summer, by substantial fears, or mocked by unreal hopes, and ambition has now reached where sedition failed to penetrate. The absurd and im- practicable scheme of colonial representation in Parliament, although disgusting, from its rank pro- \ i OF CANADA. 255 perties, to delicate palates, was well suited to the rapacious appetites of provincial sycopriahts. The bait was well selected, and soon attracted the long- ing regard of a shoal of political sharks. The self- denying tenets of the sour sectarian have not been proof against the temptation. His nostrils have been too powerful for his conscience, and scenting the strong odour of this savoury appendage from afar, he has hurried to the surface to regale him- self with its flavour. The canting hypocrite has offered his aspirations for the conversion of Par- liament to such liberal views; and the profligate demagogue of the village has expressed a hope, that a deficiency of morals may be compensated by an abundance of zeal. They have been lulled to sleep by its soporific effect, and have dreamed of this ladder as did Jacob of old, and of the ascent it offered to high places. The woolsack and the er- mine — the treasury and the peerage — appear with- in their grasp, and they invoke blessings on the man who promises so much, and who hints at his power to do even more. If I did not feel too in- dignant at all this, I too might weep over the scene of folly and of weakness, and would mingle my tears of sorrow with those that pride has shed, and blot out all trace of it for ever. The advocate of the ballot box and extended suf- frage is not the man to govern a colony. While you have been speculating upon the theory we have been watching the experiment. When the lower orders talk of these things, we know what they mean ; their language is intelligible, and their object not to be mistaken ; but when a nobleman -':» M I '11 350 THE BUBBLES .:i advocates democratic institutions, we give him full credit for the benevolence of his intentions, but we doubt the sanity of his mind. Keep such men at home, where there is so much of rank, intelligence, and wealth to counterbalance them. Here they serve to amuse and gratify agitators, and make usefuf chairmen of popular assemblies, by preser- ving a propriety of conduct and a decency of lan- guage, where violence and outrage might otherwise prevail. But send them not among us, where their rank dazzles, their patronage allures, and their prin- ciples seduce the ignorant and unwary. If we tres- pass upon your rights of sovereignty, repress us ; but while you maintain your own privileges, re- spect the inviolability of ours. When we ask in the Lower Provinces for a federative union, it will be time enough to discuss its propriety: but in the mean time spare u?? the infliction of what to us is so incomprehensible and so repugnant — a radical dictator and a democratic despot. I have already far exceeded the limits I had de- signed to confine myself to, and must, therefore, draw to a close. I have now shown you, that after the conquest of Canada, that country was governed by English laws ; that the royal procla- mation invited British subjects to remove there; and promised them the protection and enjoyment of those laws; and that in violation of that promise, in order to conciliate the French, their legal code was substituted for our own: that an injudicious division of the province was made, whereby the French were separated from the great body of FiHglish subjects, in consequence of which Canada OF CANADA. 257 became a Gallic and not a British colony. That they have been kept a distinctive people by those means, and by permitting the language of the coun- try and the recording language of their parliament to be French ; that they have always had an over- whelming majority of members of their own origin in the legislature, who have been distinguished bv an anti-commercial and anti-British feeling; that this feeling has been gradually growing with the growth of the country, until they were in a condi- tion to dictate terms to government ; that this feel- ing was manifested by the manner in which they have constantly resisted local assessments, and made commerce to bear every provincial expendi- ture,^ — in the way they neutralized the electoral privileges of the voters of British origin, — in the continijance of the oppressive tenure of the feudal law,— rin taxing emigrants from the mother coun- try, and tiiem only, — in their attempts to wrest the crown land from government, — in their attack on the Land Company, and the introduction of settlers by them, — in their opposition to a system of regis- try, — in their mode of temporary legislation, — in their refusal to vote supplies, and in the whole te- nour of their debates and votes. I have shown you that the policy of every government, whether Tory or Whig, has been conciliatory (a fatal po- licy, I admit, and one that naturally admits and in- vites demands,) and that every reasonable change required (with many very unreasonable ones) has been conceded to them; that they are a people ex- empt from taxes, in possession of their own laws, language, and religion, and of every blessing civil, 11 I 5rT-««^ I 258 THE UUBBLES political, and religious ; in short, that Canada is the most favoured colony of Great Britain, and that the demands they now make are inconsistent with colonial dependence. This statement I offer in refutation of my Lord Durham's assertion of misgovernment, used in its invidious sense, or as explained at the meeting at Carlton Hill, that they are, "our oppressed and en- slaved brethren;" and in proof of my own position that the evils now existing arc the natural conse- quences of the Quebec and constitutionnl acts, and not the result of tyranny and oppression. The review which I have just concluded, indicates the remedy loo plainly to render it at all necessary for me to offer a prescription. If, however, you can entertain any doubt upon the subject, you will at least be satisfied that the cure is not to be effected by concession. Of this all men, I think, must now be convinced. Since the termination of the late abortive attempt at colonial government, one of my Lord Durham's official coadjutors has publicly pro- claimed that all his preconceived opinions on the subject of Canada were erroneous. This was a work of supererogation. He might have spared himself the trouble of the announcement, and the pain of a recantation. All those who were at the trouble of inquiring into the nature of his views were already convinced of his error. His lordship also has inforihed the good people of Devonport that he has made important discoveries on the other side of the water. Had his mission been merely designed for his own instruction, the public, while they admitted the necessity that existed for I OP CANADA. 259 ;i it, would have applauded his zeal in such a useful and necessary pursuit; but as it was undertaken at no inconsiderable expense to the nation, they have reason to regret that this remarkable illumination was deferred until the moment of his return. What the extent of these recent revelations may be, we are not informed, but we may bo permitted to hope that he has learned this important truth, that he who undertakes the benevolent office of calming the excited passions of others, should first learn to govern his own. That there arc serious difliculties in the way of the pacification of Canada there can be no doubt, but greater difficulties have been over- come by Van Amburgh, who exhibits every night for the edification of government and the amuse- ment of Cockneys, animals, whose natures are more ferocious, and antipathies more powerful than those of the English and French, living in the same cage in the utmost harmony: and what is still more important, enjoying the most unrestrained freedom- of action within their assigned limits, and yet making no resistance to the salutary control of an external power. 9. Justum et tenacem propositi viriim Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solid:!. But let me not be misunderstood by the nature of this allusion. It must not be supposed that the assembly, because they have done so much that is objectionable, were always wrong in what they re- mk mmmm 260 THE BUBBLES quired, or the legislative council, because it is sucii a loyal and respectable body, were always right in what they refused. This was far from being the case. Many of the demands of the Canadians were reasonable and just, and many of the changes they desired, were for the benefit of the country; but, unfortunately, the violence of their language, and the unconstitutional and arbitrary acts to which they resorted, in the attainment of those objects, lel't no room to doubt that they were more bent upon having a grievance than seeking redress; and that they would rather have provoked a refusal than obtain a concession. On the other hand, the coun- cil, like most similar bodies, has always contained some men who were seltish in disposition and ultra in opinions, and whose conduct was calculated to irritate the opposite party, and to do more mischief than if they had openly* espoused their cause and adopted their principles. But whether the assembly was right or wrong in what it required, or tlic council justified or not in its opposition, the former has succeeded in all its demands. ^* The subject has now assumed a new aspect. Pretensions have been put forth that involve the question of independence, and Great Britain must now decide whether she is to retain the province or not. It is a crisis in the history of this country which other nations regard with intense interest. The fate of Canada will determine that of all the other colonies. The retreat of the soldiers will in- vite the incursions of the barbarians, and the with- drawal of the legions, like those of Rome, from the distant parts of the empire, will show that Eds- ^--->^v,. or CANADA. it is such fs right in being the lians were uigcs they intry; but, ;uage, and which they jjccts, left bent upon ; and that 5fusal than , the coun- 1 contained n and ultra ilculated to re mischief cause and le assembly efl, or the the former lew aspect, involve the Iritain must province or his country ise interest. It of all the iers will in- id the with- le, from the that Ene- S61 1 land,* conscious of her present weakness and past glories, is contracting her limits and concentrating • As a colonist it would be unpardonable in me not to acknow- ledge in adequate terms the obligations we are under to the ciiair- manof the finance committee for the important discoveries lie has recently made in colonial matters. Otiier men may rival him in industry, but for masterly and statesman-like views he is without a competitor. It is singular that the egregious error Great Britain lias heretofore committed in considering her foreign possessions of great value sliould never have been detected before, and that our forefathers should have had so l.ttle knowledge of political econo- my as to rettu-n as sources of wealth, and power, what it now ap- pears have always been productive of a fearful annual loss, ll would seem that the siu-face of Grcut Unlain, instead of being too small for her population, is too extensive, and lluit, instead of car- rying on her immense colonial trade herself, she might be spared the trouble by transforming the colonists into foreigners, and per- mitting others to do that drudgery for her. It is said tliat the same error has been committed by the owners of timber trees, in permitting the absurd arrangement of nature, with respect to the limbs to continue unreformed, that they would be nu.ch more vi- gorous if the branches, with their prodigious expenditure on tin- leaves, were all lopped oflT, (for it is a well-known fact that the trunk supplies the branches with sap, and not the brar.ches the trunk,) and that the stem would he larger, stronger, and better without such useless and expensive appendages. Trulj' this is the age of wonders, but this discovery of the worth/ chairman is the mojt wonderful one of modern times, although, strange to say, it is by no means appreciated as it deserves to be. I^ would be un- fair, as well as ungenerous, to detract from his merit, by saying that he borrowed the idea from agriculture, but it must be admit- ted that there is a wonderful coincidence between his principle and that of the ditcher. A drain, it is well known, is lengthened by being cut at both ends. Now he appears to have applied this principle to England, and infers most justly that the more she is reduced in size, the greater will be her circimifercnce. Having proved this most satisfactorily, he advances some most important, but startling proposition!), namely, that the smaller your property, 23 I'' \i m .1 262 THE BUBBLES OF CANADA. her energies, to meet, as becomes her cljaractei , the destiny that awaits all human greatness. the less you have tu defend ; tlic fewer markets you can command, the more will be open to you; the more dependant you are upon foreigners for sale or supply, the more certain you are of nevci' wanting c'ther; and others of a similar nature. His accuracy in Hgures is iruly astonishing, and is only to be equalled by the truth of the principles they evolve. Then comes the important ques- tion, "If England has grown so great, so rich, and so powerful, in spite of all these expensive possessions, how much greater, richer, and more powerful would she be without them," Every true lover of his countiy must rejoice to see that its real interests arc so well understood, and so ably supported — "Nil desperandum, Mis])icc Teucro." THE END. haractcr, n command, )U are upon ire of nevei accuracy in by the truth orlant ques- powerful, in ;atcr, richer, Every true interests arc esperandum. BOOKS, PUBLISHED AND PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION LBA & BLANCHARD, SUCCESSORS TO CAREY 8c CO. PIIILADKLPHIA. AND TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. Xiirii or 8zn 'vtai.tiir ■OOTTy SAST. By J. G. Lockhaut, Esq., hit Lite- rary Executor. In Seven Volumett Royal Duodecimo. Printed on superior paper, and bound in handsome embossed cloth ur extra binding. THE SAME WORK, at lxbs cost, In Two Volumes, Octavo. Done up in embossed cloth.. TBB IfOTBIiS OF JANB AVSTEIV. 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