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 .' J 
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 .;'//. 
 
 ON 
 
 ^*JREASONS Pon A CORPORATION,** 
 
 OR A 
 
 DEFENCE OF DISSUASOR, AND OTHERS WHO 
 
 OPPOSE THE CORPORATION. 
 
 l-HB PAMPHLET WHOSE ARGUMENTS ARE ABOUT TO.»B 
 DISCUSSED DID NOT COME INTO THE HAN9S Of THE 
 AUTHOR OF THE FOLLOWING PAGES UNTIL A 
 FEW DA"XS BACK OR HE WOULD HAVE 
 MADE His REPLY BEFORE. 
 
 This Pamphlet evidently ivritten by a man of!,, 
 deep research, betrays a disposition to overloojc 
 the peculiar circumstances attached to the sub- 
 ject on which it treats. The author selects ex- . 
 amples and principles from other sources, and, 
 takes no pains to investigate whether they are 
 appHcable to the characteristic circumstances of 
 this society, 
 
 The arguments against the corporation which 
 the Author professes to disprove, are Istly, because 
 
€anada is a conquered country; Sndly because 
 that measure will be apt to generate faction and 
 its concomitant enmities ; and Sd\y\ because it is 
 in itself premature,— we will make our observa- 
 vatioiis, as the author seperately examines these 
 considerations. 
 
 In referring to the history or mankind ; the 
 Author infers that to obliterate the national char- 
 acteristics between the conquered, and conque- 
 rors, no political distinctions should be introdu- 
 ctfd ; that the people vanquished and their con- 
 querors -should be alike amenable to one law, 
 and possessed of the same privileges : but if we 
 consider the infancy and advancement of the lib- 
 eitjr of conquered countries, we will find that the 
 asJdmiJation of the conquered to the political im- 
 munities of their invadors has when slowly and 
 gradually made been invariably accompanied by 
 an assimilation to their language and customs. 
 
 The early progress of liberty in conquered 
 countries has bv n conducted by raising the con- 
 quered nearer their conquerors in gradually mi. 
 uorating the authority of the latter, and by slowly 
 idenrilying tbe civil codes, which control the two 
 socitlies ; thus in the instances our author cites 
 one party was immediately after their conquest 
 despotic, the other servile and abject. In Cana- 
 da 5)oth parties have ever been alike free and 
 «quai. When there are great political distinc- 
 
 • »i. 
 
\ 
 
 tions and di<?parity between the conquerera and 
 conquered, the aversion, and envy of the latter 
 are not directed tO the national characteristics, 
 but to tiie authority, control, and rank ofthcfor- 
 mev. Men bereft of all liberty, subject to the 
 absolute tyranny and unbaunded capacity ofo- 
 thers, may, as long as they continue thus abject, 
 retain tlieir peculiar mannets, customs, and lan- 
 guage, but not their independence or patriotism; 
 and as soon as an opening is given them to parti* 
 cipate in the authority and power of their con* 
 querers, they will to facilitate their own civil ad- 
 vancement, resign the marks of that society they 
 wish to desert, and adopt the characteristics of 
 the people to wliom they are ambitions to ap- 
 proximate. The cai4se then of the language and 
 customs of one people being acquired, and those 
 of another relinquished is the interest of the lat. 
 ter. If Great Britain had conquered Canada 
 without making the least concession ; if she had 
 not conferred any political immunities, but as the 
 rancour and mortification of the vanquished sub- 
 sided, she had gradually granted them the con- 
 stitution t!iey now enjoy, we may fairly specu- 
 late that by this time, there would be but few na- 
 tional distinctions in Montreal. 
 
 With regard to the sudden and great benefits 
 which History testifies accrued to towns on being 
 invested with corporated rights, we must submit 
 that they resulted Irom the removal of «vih 
 
4 
 
 which do not here exist, an J not from the en* 
 ' 'ciowtnetit of those privileges which arc projected 
 •for this City ; they were often granted by the 
 Monarch to undermine the exorbitant power of 
 'the nobles ; they were usually solicited by the 
 J)eople to defend themselves against external in- 
 'terference^ and aggression. The most reasonable 
 'method, then, of accounting for the very rapid ad- 
 vancement of towns after their becoming incor- 
 porated, is their enfranchisement from the tyran- 
 'ny and extortions of a rapacious Barony. 
 
 Our Author defines next the distinct function? 
 of the authorities in the civil economy of England 
 and applies them to Canada whose political cir- 
 cumstances are widely different. He observes 
 ** that it comes not within the duty of all or any 
 of the branches of the legislature, to take cog- 
 nizance of the municipal affairs of districts or 
 towns, because their information is more defec- 
 itive, their interest more remote, and their atten- 
 tion less likely to be awakened." These reasons 
 he hints should have additional weight in Canada 
 where the towns are such a great distance from 
 the seat of Government. The mutual acquain- 
 tance and lympathy of the inhabitants of different 
 towns, with their circumstances, and interests, are 
 more dependant on their communication, than 
 propinquity. The commerce between towns in 
 Canada, has to that between towns in England, 
 a much larger ratio than the population of the 
 
 t 
 
 i 
 
 # 
 I 
 
4 
 
 t 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 former, to the population of the latter ; thus the 
 
 people oi Canaila ami their representatives are 
 more intimato with eacli others interests, tlian 
 
 the ' lii^iish are with tlicirs ; ami tlicrelbre the 
 Canadian Legislature is better qualified to man. 
 pge the interior eeonomy of particular towns. 
 
 Should there be any measure acknowledged 
 by both parties to be beneficial, the people of 
 the city can be taxed, and the amount applied in 
 the mode they si:n;i:;est, at the instance of a peti- 
 tion to the Legisi.iturc, and the iii -lediate over- 
 spers of its application fixi ci' by the executive, an 
 authority upon whosr judgment and probity 
 much more important det-nninations devolve. 
 
 But our Author strongly CMuJeir'is the princi- 
 ple of the superintendents of tie; » penditnre of 
 taxes/not being elected by theeotMnunity upon 
 whom the assessment is made, auil I ^ wdiose use 
 it is to be' applied ; such an arguui?!!: is howev- 
 er contrary to the spirit of the r Jsh Consti- 
 tution. The Author's whig ])rine;:ies which he 
 pretty clearly discloses, will jjiompi him to grant 
 ** Men are not made for kings, but idngs tor men.** 
 The taxes are then raised to m.jct the exigencies 
 of the contributors — but their amount is placed 
 in the hands of distributor.^ ap|)ointed by the Ex- 
 ecutive. The representatives of the community 
 ordain to what ends the taxes are to be applied, 
 but, to maintain the Executive cuuld not choose 
 the agents, would be an unconstitutional doc- 
 
6 
 
 trine : It is no good berc where there are so few 
 distinctions in instituted ranks pretending a dif- 
 ference between the rehition the Kxecutivc has 
 to the wliole body of community, J\nd to the parta 
 which compose it. 
 
 Our Author next asserts that the town cannot bQ 
 in a worse situation, and infers no alteration can 
 injure it ; if the town cannot be in a worse situa- 
 tion, the magistracy is useless, and the hiws of 
 the land are quite inadequate, and nnprotectivc ; 
 but the person who has walked witli his watcli in 
 his ft)b through our streets, without being knock- 
 ed down gives such a position a practical answer. 
 
 The question is this, whether the economy of 
 the City is to be conducted by men of intelli- 
 gence and capacity, but confined authority or by 
 men with the power of enforcing an important 
 decision, but without the understa#4tottg to per- 
 ceive a just one. 
 
 In the event of the corporation being cs: '^Ush- 
 ed it will be allowed, few measures which are 
 not determined upon with a tolerable degree of 
 concord are likely to be politic j but those mea- 
 sures which both parties agree are desirable, can, 
 as has been seen, be produced by recommending 
 them to the Legislature v^hose principles, opini- 
 ons, and feelings, sympathize and beat time to 
 those of their Montreal Brethren, as our author 
 himself argues. 
 
 The second divisions of Reasons for a Corpp- 
 
ration commences by observing ** public enqui- 
 ry and discufision universiiily elucidates truth, 
 allays prejudices— extinguishes enmities &c.— . 
 Now we conceive the result of a discussion can 
 alone demonstrate its evil, or beneficial tendency. 
 Discussions often end in bloodshed and Ilebel- 
 lioa. Men wlio can read and write have the press 
 open for their controversies. The pen is not 
 so calculated to irritate as the tongue. Bring- 
 ing inimical parties into contact is certainly a 
 novel mode of reconciliiig them ; thi3 tragical 
 affiiir at Galway, among a host of other instances, 
 evinces it to be at any rate, not universally effi- 
 cacious in extniguishing enmities in a peacable 
 manner. Our author goes on to admit *• no mi- 
 nor public good was ever attained but through 
 the medium of much intermediate private mise- 
 ry." We answer as soon as itis proved that any 
 public good Will be attained, then we may decide 
 whether it is worth such a price. 
 
 We pass over several remarks with observing 
 that no general principle can be said to be good 
 under particular circumstances unless its adap* 
 tion to those particular circumstances is demon- 
 strated ; and conclude our reflections on the se- 
 cond division of the pamphlet by stating we do 
 not wish the English interests to supplant the Ca- 
 nadian, but we deem the opinions of the^w in- 
 telligent should have greater weight in all gov- 
 
8 
 
 ernmenia than the obstinate prejudices of *!ie 
 multitude* 
 
 y^^/'^.?^."1^^"^^^ «i?^^" to protest against the 
 author8^«ppeal t6 Hisf.ry, es],ecially i„ this in, 
 atance, where he has w.ihheld facts which would 
 have told st.ongly agr,:,,t his argnuncnt. Numa 
 the King of Rome di,I not unite the Jlonian, and '^ 
 Sab.ne people into oiilj one body, he resolved 
 them Hidiscriminately into several corporations. 
 Society may be divided and subdivided into se- 
 veral bodies, and we wilj- universally find each 
 meinber of every b..]y(no matters hat domestic 
 differences there are) prefer his corpoiation to 
 every other. 
 
 Numa then wisely introduced the innocur^us 
 partuilities and competitions of civil and comrner- 
 eial bodies, to supercede the dangerous prejudi- 
 ces and rivalships of hostile nations. 
 
 The Corporation is destined, as our author some- 
 ^vhere hints, to manage pubHc property, direct 
 improvements, to correct evils or redress abuses, 
 but the men who will ordain the acts of the cor- 
 poration, ie. the majority, are indifferent about the 
 economy of the city or determined to oppose 
 most things which the intelligent recommend for 
 Its benefit j therefore you assign functions to men 
 which they win either abuse, or not use, and if 
 this is not premature, it is impolitic, absurd, 
 and contradictory. 
 
 a rtmik'aslt'is r.r"-^ 7,"'"'"^^ us making use of so triU 
 « remark as it is so decidedly apposite. 
 
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 Our authors mind mt beir^g transparent we 
 
 cannot ;>ii,wer the reasons which caus.> him to 
 decide, tluit our wisli to defer the incor])oratioa 
 of the town iidicates a desire to imitate the ex- 
 ample oi the Iiordes of Sc>rthia or the tribes of 
 Sumatia. 
 
 The next attempt is to shame the opposcrs of 
 the incorporation, by appealinnr to the example of 
 the dcspoticSovereigns of tlie dark ages. And the 
 savages of the adjacent woods; il indeed it were 
 fihowrj that we now are in the social situation they 
 were antecede lUo the institution of their Cor- 
 porations, and the establishment of their counsels 
 and chiettains, we would cheerfully assist in ex- 
 ecuting any remedy thea uthor might su^m•est.^ 
 The error throughout the wliole of the work, i^, 
 supposing Corporations to be an indispcnsible 
 concomitant of civilization, and freedom, and 
 upon this false axiom the whole argument is 
 built. 
 
 The concluding animadversions of the princi- 
 ple " that Magistrates should pledge themselvei 
 to support the measures of Government previous 
 to tlieir appointment to office," we cordially 
 agree in ; but we firmly believe if the execu- 
 live of Lower Canada choose the most intelli. 
 gent, unprejudiced, and ingenuous men to act at 
 ^lagistrates, it will only oppoint its own snppor. 
 
 Although we differ with the writer of Reasoni 
 
10 
 
 for a Corporation in most points, yet Ve carmot 
 forbear praising the force of his language, thts 
 chastitv of his illustrations, and the evident pro- 
 fundity of his reading, we can easily perceive he 
 is a man of no ordinary talent, that the Pamphlet 
 was not the work of much labour, and that if 
 lie had more elaborately considered the subject in 
 all probability his position would have been more 
 speciously suppi>rted. 
 
 Probably for those readers who have not 
 thought much on the subjects in this article we 
 have been too concise, we have pointedly rejected 
 illustrations ; but if our several reflections are 
 fair!} considered we have no doubt our author 
 who indicates in his work so much perspicacity, 
 will candidly join our other readers in acknow- 
 Udgiug their justice. 
 
 i II